Physician Payment Sunshine Act: Bipartisan Congressional Letter Calls for Exemption of Textbooks and Reprints

23 members of the United States House of Representatives sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to voice their disagreement with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) decision to include textbooks and scientifically peer-reviewed medical journals as "transfers of value" reportable under the Physician Payment Sunshine Act. As reported by the Coalition for Healthcare Communication, the letter demonstrates that there is widespread disagreement with the current HHS policy. The signatories state: "The importance of up-to-date, peer-reviewed scientific medical information as the foundation for good medical care is well documented." They also assert that Congress outlined 12 specific exclusions from the Sunshine Act reporting requirements, including "educational materials that directly benefit patients or are intended for patient use," and that CMS' interpretation that reprints and textbooks do not fall under this category "is inconsistent with the statutory language on its face, congressional intent, and the reality of clinical practice where patients benefit directly from improved physician medical knowledge." The letter also notes: "[T]he reporting requirement presents a clear disincentive for clinicians to accept high-quality, independent educational materials, an outcome that was unintended when the provision was passed into law" and claims that if the final regulations stand, they "could inadvertently prevent" physicians and pa...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs