CMS Delays Sunshine Act Data Collection Until January 2013

By Alan M. Kirschenbaum –

On May 3, 2012, CMS posted on its website a notice announcing that manufacturers will not be required to collect data under the physician payment sunshine provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act before January 1, 2013.  As we have reported in earlier posts, the sunshine provisions, among other things, require manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals, and medical supplies that are covered under Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program ("CHIP") to report annually to CMS certain payments or other transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals.  Although the statute requires the first report to be submitted by March 31, 2013 for payments made in calendar year 2012, CMS has long exceeded its statutory deadline of October 1, 2011 for issuing implementing procedures.  CMS published a proposed rule last December (see our summary here), and will not be issuing a final rule until “later this year.”  According to the notice, the postponement of required data collection will give CMS an opportunity to address over 300 comments submitted on the proposed rule, and will give applicable manufacturers additional time to prepare for transparency report submission.  In view of the postponement of data collection, it appears likely that the March 31, 2013 deadline for the first transparency reports will also be extended.