CMS offers smartphone apps to track payments

With the Aug. 1 implementation of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, the CMS has launched two mobile smartphone applications to help physicians, drug and medical-device manufacturers, and group purchasing organizations track payments and other transfers of value.

The Sunshine Act, also known as the Open Payment Program, is one of the provisions enacted under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and requires manufacturers to keep track of and report “transfers of value” of $10 or more made to doctors and teaching hospitals each year. The free apps, one targeted to physicians and one designed for manufacturers and GPOs, are available now on both Apple iOS and Android platforms, and allow users to track payment information and then also share it between apps.

Though physicians are not required to report anything to the CMS—that onus is on the manufacturers and GPOs—doctors can use the mobile app to help ensure that the data reported are accurate. The app doesn't actually communicate anything to the CMS or its contractors, but it does provide a convenient and secure place to collect and store payment information for future reporting.

Under the act, manufacturers and GPOs must also report ownership interests in their companies that are held by physicians and physicians' family members. Much of the information gleaned from these annual reporting requirements will be made available to consumers on a public, searchable website, expected as early as September 2014.

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