With the release of the 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule Oct. 31, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made it official: funding for independent continuing medical education (CME) will not be subject to reporting under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act as initially proposed by the agency earlier this summer.
CMS proposed modifying the existing rule that excluded from reporting certain independent CME funding by medical device and drug manufacturers in the new “Open Payments” public database. The AMA led dozens of other medical associations in calling on the agency to reject the proposed change because it would “chill physician participation in independent [continuing education] programs.”
The agency finalized a new rule that excludes from reporting all independent CME. The exception is if the industry selects or pays the CME speaker directly, or suggests speakers to the CME provider.
However, the rule does not exempt manufacturers from reporting the financial value of reprints and medical textbooks provided to physicians. The agency does not consider these items to be continuing education.
“Eliminating the exemption for payments to speakers at certain accredited or [certified] CME events will create a more consistent reporting requirement and will also be more consistent for consumers who will ultimately have access to the reported data,” CMS said in a fact sheet about the 2015 fee schedule.
The AMA’s intense advocacy surrounding the Sunshine Act also has included providing guidance for physicians to review and dispute the data reported about them in the Open Payments database, and educating reporters about the context of the data release.
Read more about the AMA’s Sunshine Act advocacy at AMA Wire®.
