CMS Clarifies Sunshine Act Reporting Format Requirements

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Tuesday clarified a top concern of drugmakers: which format to use for submitting reports required under the Physician Payment Sunshine Act.

In an update to the agency’s Open Payments website, CMS clarified that drugmakers and group purchasing organizations (GPO) must submit payment reports in XML and CSV file formats.

Manufacturers and GPOs will have a 90-day window between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2014, to file 2013 information required under the law. CMS cautions that along with the submissions, companies must also file attestations to the timeliness, accuracy and completeness of reported data.

The most recent submission with an attestation will be considered the final submission from a company. CMS will consider submissions without attestations as unreported.

View the CMS’s website update at www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/National-Physician-Payment-Transparency-Program/Data-Submission-and-Attestation.html. — Ferdous Al-Faruque

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