Mobile Apps Help Comply With the Physician Payments Sunshine Act
CMS has introduced free mobile apps to help physicians and businesses comply with the Physician Payments Sunshine Act and track financial arrangements they have with other physicians, hospitals, drug and device manufacturers, and other businesses.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has introduced free mobile apps to help physicians and businesses comply with the Physician Payments Sunshine Act and track financial arrangements they have with other physicians, hospitals, drug and device manufacturers, and other businesses. Following is the CMS announcement:
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services introduced two free mobile device applications to help physicians and health care industry users to track their payments and other financial transfers the industry will report under the OPEN PAYMENTS program (Physician Payments Sunshine Act). Created by a provision of the Affordable Care Act, OPEN PAYMENTS creates greater public transparency about the financial transactions between doctors, teaching hospitals, drug and device manufacturers, and other health care businesses.
CMS has made these apps available to facilitate accurate reporting of required information, which will be available to the public and will be published annually on the OPEN PAYMENTS website. CMS Program Integrity Director Dr. Peter Budetti said, “CMS’ foray into mobile technology is about providing user-friendly tools for doctors, manufacturers and others in the health care industry to use in working with us to implement the law in a smart way. These two apps are an innovation option for doctors and industry to accurately and securely track their financial ties and other transfers of values as required under this important transparency program.”
To support the “OPEN PAYMENTS” program, CMS designed the mobile applications (one each for physicians and health care industry users) merging this proven and efficient format with real-time 24-hour tracking technology. The apps offer on-the-go convenience for users to track financial data. Both apps are compatible with the iOS (Apple™) and Android platforms; they are available free through the iOS Apple™ Store and Google Play™ Store.
In August 2013, pharmaceutical and device manufacturers and group purchasing organizations will collect and prepare to report payments and other transfers of value made to physicians and teaching hospitals, as well as certain ownership and investment interests, as required by the Sunshine Act. (Reporting requirements do not apply to physician claims payments.)
Physicians are not required to report any information, though they may wish to use this technology to help them validate reports submitted by manufacturers about payments they’ve received.
Financial information entered into the apps will help health care industry entities meet the timely reporting requirements of OPEN PAYMENTS. Financial data loaded into the apps does not interact with CMS systems and cannot be used for direct data reporting to CMS or its contractors. In addition, CMS will not validate the accuracy of data stored in the apps, nor will it be responsible for protecting data stored in the apps.
For physician users, the “OPEN PAYMENTS Mobile for Physicians” mobile app will help them assure that industry information reported about them is accurate by:
* Tracking payments and other transfers of value received from their health care industry affiliations in real-time, as they occur.
* Transferring user profile and high level information associated with the event or situation in which the “transfer of value” occurred between physicians and industry.
* Storing personal contact information.
Industry app users hold the responsibility for accuracy and completeness of their official reports. For industry users, the “OPEN PAYMENTS Mobile for Industry” mobile app will facilitate their reporting by:
* Tracking their payments and other transfers of value assigned to physicians and teaching hospitals, in real-time.
* Transferring user profile and high level information associated with the event or situation in which the “transfer of value” occurred between physicians and industry.
* Helping to ensure greater accuracy of information about financial relationships with physicians.
* Collecting physician user profile information.
More information is available here.
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services introduced two free mobile device applications to help physicians and health care industry users to track their payments and other financial transfers the industry will report under the OPEN PAYMENTS program (Physician Payments Sunshine Act). Created by a provision of the Affordable Care Act, OPEN PAYMENTS creates greater public transparency about the financial transactions between doctors, teaching hospitals, drug and device manufacturers, and other health care businesses.
CMS has made these apps available to facilitate accurate reporting of required information, which will be available to the public and will be published annually on the OPEN PAYMENTS website. CMS Program Integrity Director Dr. Peter Budetti said, “CMS’ foray into mobile technology is about providing user-friendly tools for doctors, manufacturers and others in the health care industry to use in working with us to implement the law in a smart way. These two apps are an innovation option for doctors and industry to accurately and securely track their financial ties and other transfers of values as required under this important transparency program.”
To support the “OPEN PAYMENTS” program, CMS designed the mobile applications (one each for physicians and health care industry users) merging this proven and efficient format with real-time 24-hour tracking technology. The apps offer on-the-go convenience for users to track financial data. Both apps are compatible with the iOS (Apple™) and Android platforms; they are available free through the iOS Apple™ Store and Google Play™ Store.
In August 2013, pharmaceutical and device manufacturers and group purchasing organizations will collect and prepare to report payments and other transfers of value made to physicians and teaching hospitals, as well as certain ownership and investment interests, as required by the Sunshine Act. (Reporting requirements do not apply to physician claims payments.)
Physicians are not required to report any information, though they may wish to use this technology to help them validate reports submitted by manufacturers about payments they’ve received.
Financial information entered into the apps will help health care industry entities meet the timely reporting requirements of OPEN PAYMENTS. Financial data loaded into the apps does not interact with CMS systems and cannot be used for direct data reporting to CMS or its contractors. In addition, CMS will not validate the accuracy of data stored in the apps, nor will it be responsible for protecting data stored in the apps.
For physician users, the “OPEN PAYMENTS Mobile for Physicians” mobile app will help them assure that industry information reported about them is accurate by:
* Tracking payments and other transfers of value received from their health care industry affiliations in real-time, as they occur.
* Transferring user profile and high level information associated with the event or situation in which the “transfer of value” occurred between physicians and industry.
* Storing personal contact information.
Industry app users hold the responsibility for accuracy and completeness of their official reports. For industry users, the “OPEN PAYMENTS Mobile for Industry” mobile app will facilitate their reporting by:
* Tracking their payments and other transfers of value assigned to physicians and teaching hospitals, in real-time.
* Transferring user profile and high level information associated with the event or situation in which the “transfer of value” occurred between physicians and industry.
* Helping to ensure greater accuracy of information about financial relationships with physicians.
* Collecting physician user profile information.
More information is available here.
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