BACKGROUND The U.S. Physician Payments Sunshine Act mandates the reporting of payments or items of value received by physicians from drug, medical device, and biological agent manufacturers. The impact of these payments on physician prescribing has not been examined at large scale. METHODS We linked public Medicare Part D prescribing data and Sunshine Act data for 2013. Physician payments wer...

OBJECTIVE The Physician Payments Sunshine Act, enacted in 2010, is intended to increase the transparency of relationships between US physicians and teaching hospitals and manufacturers of drugs, biologics, and medical devices. We examined current opinion regarding the impact of the Sunshine Act on peer-reviewed medical publications. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We searched indexed databases (N...

THE PHYSICIAN PAYMENTS SUNSHINE ACT (PPSA) PROMises a new era of transparency for the US health care system. Signed into law on March 23, 2010, the PPSA is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009. The PPSA requires medical product companies to report to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) a range of “transfers of value” to covered recipients (physicians and...

INTRODUCTION Section 6002 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the Sunshine Act, requires that manufacturers report payments or other transfers of value made to physicians and teaching hospitals [1,2]. The tracking of such payments goes into effect on August 1, 2013, and the new rules could affect radiologists. In this column, I pose and answer several questions rega...

The new Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires public reporting of payments to physicians and teaching hospitals from pharmaceutical and medical device companies, as well as reporting of certain ownership interests (see box). Sponsored by Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) and supported by consumer advocates, the law covers meals, honoraria, travel expenses, and grants from...