October 2014
This week, CMS released to the public industry data on payments and other transfers of value to physicians. The Open Payment Data, in the words of CMS, is designed to "e ncourage transparency about these financial ties, provide information on the nature and extent of the relationships, helps to identify relationships that can both lead to the development of beneficial new technologies and wasteful healthcare spending and helps to prevent inappropriate influence on research, education and clinical decision making."
Many physician organizations, including the ATS, have expressed concern with the accuracy of the data provided by industry and the proper context for this data to be interpreted by the public.
The Open Payment website can be visited at:http://www.cms.gov/openpayments/index.html.
