Law Requires Disclosure of Financial Ties with Doctors

As part of health care reform, Congress passed the Physician Payments Sunshine provisions, which require drug and medical device manufacturers to disclose the gifts or amount of money they give to doctors and academic medical centers.

The information must be reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which will publish it on a web site. Recordkeeping starts January 1, 2012. The first report is due March 31, 2013, and annually after that.

The provisions were passed because of concern that these payments and gifts, often given for lectures, could improperly influence the types and amounts of drugs or treatments dispensed by doctors. The law just requires disclosure; there is no limit on these financial relationships.