New York Times: Sunshine provisions moving in health care reform bills

11/04/2009

The physician payments sunshine provisions moving forward in both the House and Senate health care reform bills would require public disclosure of payments to doctors and medical schools, as well as physician ownership in facilities and medical products, according to the New York Times. The Times notes that the scope of payments is broader under the House provisions, covering pharmacists, biomedical researchers, and professional medical associations, among others.

The Times noted the support of the medical device industry's trade association, AdvaMed, for the Senate version of the sunshine provisions.

“The physician relationships are the ones the public has the keenest interest in understanding,” AdvaMed general counsel Christopher L. White told the Times.

The Times reports that an emailed statement from PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry's main trade association, suggested that "any federal legislation requiring payment disclosures must be written in a way that did not imply that industry relationships with health care providers were automatically inappropriate."

For more on the Sunshine Act, check out the Sunshine Act Guide.