08/25/2014    Chris Mahaffey, Glenn Gastwirth, DPM

Under Proposal, CME Speakers No Longer Exempt from Sunshine Act

APMA and ACFAS appreciate that CMS is taking steps
to resolve the inequity created by its current
Physician Payment Sunshine Act (Open Payments)
reporting exclusion for indirect payments made to
covered recipient physician speakers at certain
accredited and certified continuing education
events. We strongly disagree with the decision of
CMS to omit arbitrarily the accrediting entity for
sponsors of continuing education in podiatric
medicine, the Council on Podiatric Medical
Education (CPME), as an accrediting or certifying
entity under the current exclusion.

Together, APMA and ACFAS lobbied CMS heavily,
which included an in-person meeting in a Capitol
Hill office with CMS staff responsible for Open
Payments implementation. The goal of this meeting
was to “level the playing field” by resolving the
inequity created by not listing the accrediting
entities for continuing medical education for all
Medicare physicians.

For clarification, CMS’ proposal is to eliminate
the specific exemption regulatory language at
issue and instead exempt the indirect payments
made to covered recipient physician speakers under
a more general exemption for indirect payments.
However, the general exemption has an awareness
requirement that is problematic in the context of
continuing medical education. CMS is also
soliciting comments on proposals it has
considered, including expanding the list of
accrediting and certifying entities and
articulating accreditation or certification
standards.

APMA and ACFAS will be submitting comments in
support of an equitable solution where indirect
physician speaker payments will be treated the
same regardless of accrediting or certifying
entity. We are also aware of opposing arguments to
retain the current exclusion and are countering
these arguments accordingly.

Chris Mahaffey, Executive Director
American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons

Glenn Gastwirth, DPM, Executive Director and CEO
American Podiatric Medical Association

There are no more messages in this thread.