Dive Brief:
- The American Medical Association and more than 100 other medical organizations have sent a letter to CMS requesting that the agency delay making payment reports from pharmaceutical and device manufacturers under the Open Payments system public for six months.
- The payment data is slated to be made public next month, as mandated by the Physician Payment Sunshine Act provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
- There have been a number of complaints about glitches involving the Open Payments system, raising concerns that consumers may wind up seeing inaccurate information.
Dive Insight:
The delay request is no surprise considering that doctors and physicians' groups have raised several red flags about incorrect payment data recorded under the Open Payments system, as well as a cumbersome registration and verification process. Groups have also complained that not enough doctors know that there is a verification process to make sure the data is accurate.
Earlier this week, a technical glitch allowed a Kentucky-area doctor to see payment information for another doctor in a different state—who happened to have the same name as him—in addition to his own information. That prompted CMS to temporarily take down the verification system over the weekend. For now, the pharma and device maker payments are still slated to be made public next month.