Open Payments Data 2014 Suggest Downward Trend in Clinical Research Spending
Could the Sunshine Act be creating an unintentional downward trend in clinical research? An analysis of the U.S. government’s Open Payments database shows that industry spending on U.S-based clinical research has dropped 32 percent in the first year-over-year comparison since Open Payments data started to be collected. The results are published in the August issue of Life Science Compliance Update, a monthly newsletter published by Policy & Medicine.
The analysis shows that drug and device manufacturers reported about $1.5 billion in research payments from August through December 2013, the first reporting period unde...
Source: Policy and Medicine - August 18, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
ABIM and ACCME Announce Collaboration in Support of Physician Lifelong Learning
On August 12, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) announced a collaboration to support physicians who are engaged in lifelong learning by enabling them to use those activities to satisfy requirements for ABIM’s Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. “This collaboration will expand the options available to physicians to receive MOC credit and will enable continuing medical education (CME) providers to offer more lifelong learning options with MOC credit to internists and subspecialists,” according to a new press releas...
Source: Policy and Medicine - August 14, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Physician Payments Sunshine Act: How Many Physicians Are Disputing Their Payments?
Discussion For UK Sunshine Law (Source: Policy and Medicine)
Source: Policy and Medicine - August 5, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Avoiding Medicare Fraud & Abuse: A Roadmap for Physicians
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a “roadmap for physicians” to submit proper claims for reimbursement. The guide, which walks through pertinent fraud and abuse laws and certain best practices for physicians, in turn provides manufacturers a helpful, convenient compliance tool as well.
View: Avoiding Medicare Fraud & Abuse: A Roadmap for Physicians
The Federal False Claims Act (FCA) protects the Federal Government from being overcharged or sold substandard goods or services . The FCA imposes civil liability on any person who knowingly submits, or causes to be submitted, a false or...
Source: Policy and Medicine - July 31, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
ACCME Annual Report Data 2014
Conclusion
The CME Economy is slowly coming back from the big drop with the stock market crash. New innovations and a stronger focus on outcomes are driving important CME programs. Unfortunately, accounting for inflation, the data should actually be considered a larger drop than the numbers reflect.
There are bright spots with some sectors growing, but at this point the CME enterprise is growing at the same rate, roughly 4%, as the overall economy.
Related StoriesCommunicating the Value of Accredited Continuing Medical EducationJAMA: Advancing Continuing Medical EducationHotel Wo...
Source: Policy and Medicine - July 29, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
11th Annual CADDRA ADHD Conference in Vancouver BC Oct 16-18th Tell Your Doctor
The 11th Annual CADDRA (Canadian ADHD Resource Alliance) ADHD Conference will be held here in Vancouver BC Oct 16-18th 2015. Crossposted to BCADHD. Early bird pricing ends July 31st. Register here.
They will be doing this during the 2015 BC ADHD Awareness Week.
Tell Your Doctor Psychiatrist, or Psychologist. Especially if they don’t know ADHD. They can lean and get CME’s Continuing Medical Education Credits for it.
Nurses, ADHD Coaches, Teachers and Social Workers and other professionals and trainees should also attend.
CADDRA has annual conferences but only comes to Vancouver every half a decade so if you m...
Source: Adult ADD Strengths - July 28, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Pete Quily Tags: ADD / ADHD Conferences and Workshops Vancouver Source Type: blogs
Undercover Report on Industry Relationship With NHS Inspires Discussion For UK Sunshine Law
Last week, Telegraph UK published a number of articles based on undercover interviews that targeted the relationships between drug companies and employees of the National Health Service (NHS). The articles noted that that NHS formulary decision-makers may also work as paid company consultants who can recruit other influential NHS employees to advisory board meetings. One interview in particular revealed that these meetings may be held in exotic locations at fancy hotels.
In the United Kingdom, NHS hospital trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) produce a formulary of medicines d...
Source: Policy and Medicine - July 28, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Reducing Practice Variation At Crystal Run Healthcare
Research has shown wide variation in per capita spending among different states and among different counties within the same state. Some of this variation can be explained by the health status of the population, local pricing, patient cultural and demographic factors, and the local liability environment.
However, the vast majority of variation in spending is unexplained and likely due to a failure of health care providers to follow established best practice guidelines. This type of variation is associated with unnecessary over-utilization, while reducing variation leads to reductions in utilization and improvements in qua...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 23, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Scott Hines, Jonathan Nasser and Linda Green Tags: Costs and Spending Equity and Disparities Health Professionals Innovations in Care Delivery Medicaid and CHIP Medicare Organization and Delivery Population Health Quality ACOs chronic conditions Crystal Run Healthcare NCQA Physic Source Type: blogs
A Step Toward a Cultural Transformation in the Way Pain is Perceived, Judged and Treated
The following blog post is the executive summary of the June 29-30, 2015, PAINS Collaborators Meeting in Washington, DC, held in response to Department of Health and Human Services’ publication of the National Pain Strategy Report. BACKGROUNDIn anticipation of publication of the National Pain Strategy (NPS) Report, in June 2015 the Pain Action Alliance to Implement a National Strategy (PAINS), a coalition of national leaders and organizations committed to advancing the sixteen recommendations made in the Institutes of Medicine’s report, Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, C...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - July 23, 2015 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Practical Bioethics Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs
Congress Holds CMS’s “Feet to the Fire” on Medicare Part D Fraud
Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on Medicare Part D program integrity, an increasingly hot topic. Members of Congress are especially concerned about, as Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton phrased it, the “startling increase in Medicare Part D spending on commonly abused opioids.” Shantanu Agrawal of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Ann Maxwell, Assistant Inspector General, Office of Evaluation and Inspections, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Service provided tes...
Source: Policy and Medicine - July 23, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
JAMA: Advancing Continuing Medical Education
In an article issued Online First in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) authored "Advancing Continuing Medical Education," by Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc, President and CEO of the ACCME. Dr. McMahon articulates the importance of accredited CME in supporting physicians' continuing professional development and the evolving healthcare environment. He explains the evolution of CME over the past 15 years, as increasingly CME has been designed to create meaningful change in healthcare professionals' skills and performance and to affect pat...
Source: Policy and Medicine - July 21, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Open Payments: CMS Clarifies Continuing Medical Education FAQs, Confirms CME Funding Must Meet the Definition of "Indirect Payment" To Be Reportable
On Friday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced they had updated the Law and Policy page on the Open Payments website with information about the revised reporting requirements for continuing medical education. CMS also announced three FAQs for CME reporting. This information isn't necessarily "new" as CMS revised this page several months ago to correct what many felt was a misinterpretation of the Sunshine Act Final Rule regarding CME payments. This was, however, the agency's first announcement about the revision.
Under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, pharmaceutical...
Source: Policy and Medicine - July 20, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Looking At The Future Of Alzheimer’s Disease Policy
It is time to engage public health in aggressive efforts to address Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias (AD/D) without delay.
As I noted in Health Affairs in April 2014, numerous U.S. states are already taking some action. Since then an additional 12 states, for a total of 40 states, have developed state plans to address AD/D. Most are already published, with a few in development or being scheduled for updating.
Public policy statements at all levels call for coordination of resources, better communication, awareness, and essential linkages. Now to achieve the outcomes envisioned in these plans and policies, further ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 14, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: David Hoffman Tags: Costs and Spending Health Policy Lab Long-term Services and Supports Population Health Public Health Aging Alzheimer's Chronic Condition David Hoffman Dementia Long-Term Care New York Source Type: blogs
House of Representatives Approves 21st Century Cures Act 344-77
The U.S. House of Representatives today approved H.R. 6, the 21st Century Cures Act, by a vote of 344-77. The bill received overwhelming bipartisan support, despite some opposition to the mandatory spending stream to NIH on the Conservative side.
"The legislation will help to bring our health care system into the 21st Century, investing in science and medical innovation, incorporating the patient perspective, and modernizing clinical trials, to deliver better, faster cures to more patients and loved ones in need," the Energy and Commerce Committee states.
The bill’s authors, House Energy and Com...
Source: Policy and Medicine - July 10, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Hotel Worker Union Protests Industry-Funded CME Soon After Event At A Blacklisted Hotel
Source: Unite Here!
A number of articles have been written about Unite Here, a union representing hotel workers, calling for pharmaceutical companies to stop funding continuing medical education (see Pharmalot; Meeting-Conventions; BioPharmaDIVE). Most have noted that a hospitality workers' union is an unusual critic of CME funding, but have not touched on Unite Here’s ten year history of calling for businesses and tourists to boyc...
Source: Policy and Medicine - July 8, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
