Who's Looking at Your Payments From Industry?
The initial anger over the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments program (aka the Sunshine Act) is starting to become somewhat quieter. But the current appearance of calm is not synonymous with acceptance, and for many, resentment and ire simmer right below the surface. As attention to the public data ramps up, physicians' reactions to the Sunshine Act have ranged from consternation to indignation to a dismissive "who cares?"
The first week of the data going public saw a flurry of doctor-payment lookups (despite problems with the site) by patients, news media, professional organizations, and some physicians checking out colleagues and acquaintances.
The public data will make a small percentage of doctors squirm uncomfortably and could even land some in hot water with colleagues or their institutions. For most, that won't be the situation. But physicians are still nervous about public reaction to data about a situation that patients probably don't fully understand. And there's no shortage of doctor-bashers who gleefully point to what they imagine to be collusion between physicians and industry.
Some patients will check out their physician's data out of sheer curiosity. Many patients would like to know more about their physician on a personal level.
