What is the Sunshine Act?

The Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2009 requires pharmaceutical, medical device and biologics companies to report payments to physicians annually. Companies must report physician ownership interests in their companies outside of publicly traded securities. The Sunshine Act preempts existing state laws with the same information requirements but does not preempt new state requirements. There are penalties for non-compliance and information must be posted to a public website.

Who is affected by the Act?

Manufacturers of covered drugs, devices, biologicals, or medical supplies who are making payments to covered recipients (physicians, a physician medical practice, or a physician group practice) would be affected by this Act.

Industry Response?

Although not passed into law at this point, companies are preparing their information systems and revising business processes today, anticipating passage of the Sunshine Act this year. 

While the information reporting requirements of the Act may seem straight forward, many clinical and finance departments cannot readily and easily obtain and report this information.  To see how the Sunshine Act may impact your organization, click on the attachment below to download a full presentation of the legislation.