The federal government has recently implemented a new system allowing physicians to check the payments attributed to them by drug and device makers. This information will be made public later this year under the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, which is part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. In advance, if doctors believe the material about them is wrong, they can contest it. While the system is designed to make the relationship between doctors and pharmaceutical companies more transparent, early reports suggest the new site has some glitches.
Technical Difficulties in Identity Verification
Doctors have reported that it takes them as long as an hour, sometimes longer, to verify their identities and log in. The information is not yet public, so doctors have to go through several steps to prove they are who they say they are. Once they get that far, doctors who were expecting the site to clearly reflect that they don’t have relationships with pharmaceutical companies have met with a surprise.
The Open Payments website tells doctors, “You have the following errors on the page. There are no results that match the specified search criteria.” This error message is ambiguous and leaves doctors uncertain about whether it means no pharmaceutical reports or if there is a bug to repair on the website. When the website is open to the public, it will show payments made from August to December 2013 and cover complete calendar years going forward.
Physicians Left Uncertain
Dr. Aaron Gray, a family physician and specialist in sports medicine at the University of Missouri, said, “After going through the entire registration process, which took close to 20 minutes, I was disappointed when I searched to see an error message. I’m hoping that means I don’t have any payments in the system, but I’m not quite sure. It’s a letdown to go through all the steps of the process and not have a confirmation that I don’t have any payments in the system.”
Aaron Albright, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, assures doctors that the “error” message means that there are no results for the doctor. Those with questions can contact the Open Payments help desk for assistance.
Dollars for Docs
ProPublica has been tracking payments from pharmaceutical companies to doctors since 2010 in its news application called Dollars for Docs. The site includes companies that have made their payments public, typically under settlement agreements with the government to resolve allegations of improper marketing. Dollars for Docs currently includes $2.5 billion in payments through 2012 from 15 companies representing about 43 percent of U.S. drug sales.
As the new Open Payments website aims to provide more transparency to the public, it is essential that physicians can trust and understand the information displayed. The government should work to improve the clarity of the information and minimize glitches, as this will ultimately lead to a stronger working relationship between doctors, pharmaceutical companies, and patients. In the long run, an easy-to-use and understand platform will provide a better experience for all parties involved and help in maintaining a transparent healthcare system.
