Legislators want more physician payment disclosure

A new federal bill requiring more extensive disclosure of payments to physicians by pharmas and medical device companies is now circulating on Capitol Hill. The bill, a new version of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, would require not only that such companies make annual online disclosures of how much money or other considerations were provided to doctors, but it would also demand that they explain the types of services for which doctors were paid.

Pharmaceutical and medical device firms would also have to include the names of products doctors either consulted on or researched, and whether there was a previous-year disclosure violations. In what may be the toughest provision yet, accidental disclosure omissions could cost companies up to $150,000 annually, and knowingly failing to report payments to doctors could cost up to $1 million.

To find out more about the revised bill:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

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