Review Your Open Payments Data for 2022 by May 15
Ensure Data Is Accurate Before June 30 Publication
April 11, 2023, News Staff — It’s once again time to review data reported to CMS about certain interactions you had with pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers last year to ensure its accuracy. You have until May 15 to examine that data and affirm its accuracy or report any errors you find before the data is published on June 30.
Data disputes must be initiated by the May 15 deadline to be reflected in the June disclosure. After that, the information is in the public domain.
It’s all part of the Open Payments™ Program CMS launched in 2014 to implement the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which was included as a section of the Affordable Care Act. Open Payments is a national transparency program that collects and publishes information about financial relationships between drug and medical device companies and group purchasing organizations on one hand, and physicians and certain other health care entities on the other. The intent is to promote a more transparent and accountable health care system.
Briefly, the act requires medical product manufacturers — known as “reporting entities” — to report any payments or transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals — or “covered recipients” — to CMS. Examples of these payments might include research, meals, travel, gifts or speaking fees. The act also calls for certain manufacturers and group purchasing organizations to disclose any physician ownership or investment interests in those companies.
Beginning with Program Year 2021, collection of Open Payments data was expanded to include physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists and anesthesiologist assistants, and certified nurse-midwives.
CMS clarifies on the Open Payments site that it does not comment about what relationships may be beneficial or potential conflicts of interest. Similarly, the agency does not mediate or facilitate disputes; it merely publishes the data to which reporting entities have attested. The data is open to individual interpretation.
To review the Open Payments data attributed to you, you’ll first need to create an account in CMS’ Identity Management System using the “New User Registration” link. After you’ve created your account and obtained your IDM credentials, you can request access to the Open Payments system and follow the steps to register. If you’ve already registered, you can go directly to the CMS Enterprise Portal to participate in the review and dispute process.
For more information about the registration process, visit the Open Payments Resources for Covered Recipients webpage. You also can learn more about the overall Open Payments Program by viewing a short video.