Please click here to take the brief advocacy survey. The AMA wants to know what you think about the Open Payments System. The deadline to complete the survey is COB Monday, August 18. You can also email your stories/anecdotes to OpenPayments@ama-assn.org.
NEW 8/15/14: CMS announced that the deadline for physicians and teaching hospitals to review their records has been extended to September 8, 2014. The public website will be available on September 30, 2014.
BACKGROUND
As the deadline for physicians to review and dispute their payment data approaches (August 27, 2014), many medical societies and associations have expressed serious concern about three Open Payments issues: expanded reporting requirements now include educational activities; the condensed timeframe for physician registration; and the complex Open Payments dispute process.
These concerns prompted 49 state medical societies, 64 medical specialty societies, and the AMA to send a joint letter to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner on August 5. Connecticut State Medical Society was among the signatories to the letter, which requested a restoration of exemption for medical textbooks, journal article reprints and other educational materials, a 6-month delay in the publication of payment data, and other reasonable recommendations. Read the letter here.
On August 8, CMS announced that the database "has been taken offline temporarily to investigate a reported issue” and physicians would not be able to review their data on the site until it is fixed. CMS did not give a specific date for bringing the database back online. There was also no word on whether the September 30 public launch of the Open Payments site would be postponed
PHYSICIAN RESOURCES
Open Payment Information/Updates (CMS)
How to Dispute Incorrect Financial Data (AMA)
CMS Open Payments User Guide (CMS)
Yes, there's a (free) app for that: iOS and GooglePlay
