by Charles Ornstein, ProPublica
Physician Payment Sunshine Act
Government will withhold one-third of the records from database of physician payments
by Charles Ornstein, ProPublica
Next month, when the federal government releases data about payments to physicians from pharmaceutical and medical device makers, one-third of the records will be withheld because of data inconsistencies, an official told ProPublica.
Sunshine Act follies spark more concern | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Physicians’ groups are up in arms about the looming launch of the a public database of industry-doctor relationships, citing concerns about errors in reporting and security breaches that appear to muddle the program’s credibility.
The public database, scheduled to go live September 30, will allow anyone with interest to peruse troves of data about the financial exchanges between doctors and manufacturers of drugs and medical devices, but the novel program has its share of issues.
Doc groups ask Medicare to keep pay data under wraps a little longer
A massive alliance of medical societies urged Medicare regulators this week to keep physician pay data from the public for an extra 6 months, time that doctors can use to peruse their profiles for inaccuracies about their financial relationships with medical device and drug companies.
The proposal would keep physician financial data under wraps until March 31, 2015, rather than Sept. 30, 2014, as planned.
Medicare’s Sunshine Act changes could hit device makers in the pocketbook
Medicare regulators are looking for feedback on proposed changes to the laws governing transparency in financial relationships between doctors and healthcare companies, warning that the changes may represent a hefty new cost for medical device makers in particular.
Error: You have no payments from pharma
by Charles Ornstein, ProPublica
The federal government has a word for physicians who don’t have financial relationships with pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers: "Error."
Medicare reveals massive trove of physician pay data
As promised, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid released an unprecedented trove of physician reimbursement data, opening up the agency’s practices to public review and scrutiny.
The data represents payments made to doctors, hospitals and clinics in 2012, including names, addresses, procedures and specific dollars amounts reimbursed for more than 880,000 healthcare providers, amounting to nearly $77.4 billion in payouts.
Physician Payments Sunshine Act data collection begins next week
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said the Physician Payments Sunshine Act will kick in next week, with data slated to start coming in on Feb. 18th.
The Sunshine Act, part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aims to increase patient safety by boosting transparency and illuminating potential conflicts of interest between healthcare providers and big business by tracking funding.
Saying goodbye to drug samples
Soon, doctors won’t be handing patients drug samples from time to time, pharmacists will.
Doctors were told that makes a difference. It will soon be a national trend, they were told. Instead of handing a patient a sample, just type in an order for a sample to the EMR and the pharmacist will make sure they get it.
The cloudy aspects of the Physician Payment Sunshine Act
3 New Jersey docs plead guilty in kickback scheme | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Three New Jersey doctors admitted to sending patients in for unnecessary diagnostic tests as part of a massive kickback scheme that dates back to 2006.
Dennis Aponte, Claudio Dicovsky and Franklin Dana Fortunato all pleaded guilty to the Federal Travel Act; Fortunato also pled guilty to tax return fraud.
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