Trade associations require time to implement Sunshine Act

A quartet of life science trade associations encouraged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to publish a final rule implementing the Physician Payments Sunshine  Act, a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that would require pharmaceutical, medical device, biological and medical supply manufacturers to report payments made to providers and teaching hospitals to the Department of Health and Human Services.

An Aug. 14 letter to CMS from the Advanced Medical Technology Association, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America applauded the agency for the attention it has given to industry needs as it plans for implementation, but also insisted sufficient notice be given before data collection on covered transactions begin.   

“We ask that when CMS completes its thorough review of all stakeholder comments and releases a final regulation, that CMS grant our companies sufficient preparation time to implement the final rule,” the letter read. “To properly implement the data collection and reporting required by the Sunshine provisions, our companies will need this time for system development, implementation, testing and training.”

CMS has received more than 300 comments related to a proposed rule on the Sunshine Act and in May announced that it would not begin collecting data on transactions covered by Sunshine Act until after Jan. 1, 2013, although a specific timetable has not been released. 

The complete letter is available on BIO’s website.