The healthcare reform act contains stringent rules mandating the public disclosure of gifts and payments made to doctors by medical device, pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
The so-called "Physician Payments Sunshine Provision" of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 requires the companies to begin reporting gifts or payments worth more than $10 no later than March 31, 2013. The result, a searchable database containing the names and addresses of each recipient and the details of the payments, will be made publicly available by Sept. 30 of that year, and on June 30 every year following.