Physician Payment Sunshine Act: Many Letters to Encourage Completion of Regulations, Disclosures Use in Malpractice Cases

As we continue to wait for the final regulations to implement the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, more groups are writing to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) urging the Obama Administration to release the rule.  Last week, AARP, AFL-CIO, and 17 other healthcare advocacy groups issued a letter urging the Obama administration to roll out those regulations ASAP.  “After all, the legislation is aimed at holding the line on healthcare costs--by minimizing pharma influence on brand-name prescribing--and at protecting patients from unhealthy results of untoward financial relationships, the groups wrote,” reported The Hill.  "There is a significant consequence for healthcare system costs associated with the ongoing delay in implementation because of the practice by some physicians of over-prescribing certain drugs, or by otherwise prescribing medically unnecessary and expensive treatments," the letter states.  "The Sunshine Act provides patients with the right to know about potential conflicts of interest between their physician and industry, and will help to protect patients from payments or financial relationships that could compromise the quality or cost of their healthcare,"  In addition, Forbes reports that several doctors wrote a similar missive to the White House chief of staff, expressing their disappointment that the sunshine provisions remain unimplemented. "Financial relationships between physicians and drug and medical device companies ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs