Open Payments system ready for 2014 physician payment data

The Open Payments system (created under the Sunshine Act), which gathers and publicly discloses information on all payments or transfers of value from medical manufacturers and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) to individual physicians, is entering its second year.

Between now and March 31, pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturers and GPOs must register or recertify their registration with the Open Payments system and begin submitting payment data for 2014 and corrected data for 2013.

Physicians aren’t directly involved in the manufacturers’ data submission. But they should register with the system (or make sure they’re still registered from last year) so they can be ready to review any information submitted about them and make sure it is correct. The process for reviewing and disputing any information for physicians is expected to begin in April.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services plan to publish the 2014 payment data, as well as updated 2013 data, in June. Of course, last year’s process was far from smooth and saw some delays.

More information is available on the Open Payments website.