Open Payments review period begins

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week kicked off a 45-day review and dispute period for its Open Payment system (formerly known as the Sunshine Act).

During this process, physicians and teaching hospitals have a chance to look at financial information reported about them by pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and group purchasing organizations and point out any errors before CMS makes the information publicly available on June 30. After the review period ends, the CMS will continue to review disputed payments but won’t update the public records until next year.

This is the second year for Open Payments, and the records will cover payments made to physicians and teaching hospitals in 2014.

The review process is voluntary, but to participate and file disputes, you will need to register in both the CMS Enterprise Identity Management System (EIDM) and the Open Payments system itself.

If you registered last year, you don’t have to register again. Just go to the CMS Enterprise Portal, log in using your user ID and password, and navigate to the Open Payments system home page.

Note, however, that the CMS Enterprise Portal locks your account if there has been no activity for 60 days or more and deactivates it if there has been no activity for 180 days or more. If your account is locked, go to the CMS Enterprise Portal, enter your user ID and answer all challenge questions, and you’ll  be asked to reset your password. To reinstate a deactivated account, contact the Open Payments Help Desk at openpayments@cms.hhs.gov.

CMS is also holding a national provider call discussing the review period, entitled “Open Payments (Sunshine Act) 2015: Prepare to Review Reported Data – Registration Now Open.” The call is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. (EDT) on Wednesday, April 15. To register – and CMS says space may be limited – go to the CMS web page for upcoming calls.

CMS has more information, including educational materials, on its Open Payments website. It also can field questions during normal business hours at openpayments@cms.hhs.gov or by calling 1-855-326-8366.

– Kent Moore, Senior Strategist for Physician Payment for the American Academy of Family Physicians