We have encouraged hospitals to begin a dialogue with their physicians moving toward development of vendor relations polices, and we have offered several examples for consideration. The new health reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (which forever more will be known as PPACA), gives hospitals and physicians even more to talk about on this subject.
Section 6002 of PPACA incorporates provisions from the proposed Physician Payment Sunshine Act. That legislation was introduced in Congress last year by U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) to require drug and medical device manufacturers and group purchasing organizations to report on a wide range of payments to physicians and physician-owned entities.
Thomas Sullivan, president the of Rockpointe Corporation, has posted an excellent summary of this new reporting law at his blog, Policy and Medicine. Beginning in March 2013, drug and device companies and GPOs will have to report to HHS any cash payment or provision of any in-kind item or service to a physician. There are a handful of exceptions, including items and services valued at less than $10.00 (provided the annual aggregate is less than $100). HHS will maintain this information in searchable databases made available to the public on its website.
Now, in addition to worrying about the Anti-Kickback Statute when accepting vendor freebies, doctors must answer conflicts of interest charges from their patients and the public. Such pressure is more likely to change some physicians’ behavior than what they perceive as the remote threat of criminal prosecution. Although reporting does not start for another three years, hospitals and physicians need to keep “draft vendor policy” on their health care reform to-do lists.
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