CMS makes changes to reporting deadlines and requirements, Canada continues to collect date about the effects of off-label use of drugs, and Medicines Australia updates its Code of Conduct.
You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream! And we’ll be doing a lot of screaming because July is National Ice Cream Month. (July – 31 days. Baskin-Robbins – 31 flavors. Coincidence?) Whether on a cone, in a cup or topped with sauces, fruit or confections, July is a great month to enjoy this cold treat. And gone are the days when Tutti Frutti was the outrageous flavor. Now, along with the likes of Cookies & Cream and Rum Raisin, you can have your pick of Chocolate-Chili, Roasted Garlic, or Mushy Green Peas. As you ponder your favorite flavor (bizarre or otherwise) for beating the July heat, we offer our own scoop with this week’s News in Review.
The deadline for submitting Phase 2 data melted away, sort of, last week. CMS sent out an email essentially extending the deadline for submitting Open Payments Phase 2 documents to July 7. In the e-mail, CMS said it wanted to assure accuracy and completeness of the reports and attestations and that penalties would not be enforced for non-compliance until after July 7.
Also melting away could be the CME exclusion in final rule for the Sunshine Act. CMS is planning to propose a change to the exemption for reporting CME payments. The current rule allows an exemption for three reasons: the program is accredited by certain organizations, the physician isn’t paid directly by the manufacturer, or the manufacturer doesn’t influence the selection of speakers. CMS ultimately decided to remove the exclusion due to the redundancies involving indirect payments that occur when the manufacturer is unaware of the recipient. The agency also does not want to appear that it is indicating support of certain accrediting bodies by continuing to specifically name them in the exemption. The proposed changes will appear in the July 11 Federal Register.
And if the CME change isn’t enough, CMS has a few other toppings to add to the final rule sundae. The agency is also proposing that “stock, stock options, and other ownership interests” not be one category, but three. Other changes include the requirement that all manufacturers, including device manufacturers, use the product’s marketed name on reports and the removal of the “definition of a covered device” from the rule.
Canada’s Health Minister, Rona Ambrose, is serving up a scoop or two of new information about serious side effects resulting from off-label drug use. Health Canada has been collecting the information for several years, but technical issues prevented it from making the database of information publicly available. The group is planning a systems upgrade that will allow the regulator to share the database. No timeline for when the public can expect to access the information has been released.
Medicines Australia is looking for approval of its latest flavor. The organization has submitted the 18th edition of its Code of Conduct to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for authorization. The new Code includes requirements for the reporting of transfers of value from industry to healthcare professionals. If authorized, the Code will become effective January 2015, with the new transparency requirements going into effect October of 2015. However, not everyone is happy with the result. A provision requiring manufacturers to obtain permission from physicians to allow their name to be published with the payment data, has members of the Greens political party very concerned. A spokesman said the party was considering reintroducing legislation to make the reporting of transfers of value to physicians a legal requirement.
Sunshine and transparency will no doubt continue to be a popular flavor, both here and abroad, for the distant future. That’s why we are adding a global transparency focused module to our growing list of PharmaCertify™ off-the-shelf learning solutions. To learn more about the module or see a content outline, contact Sean Murphy at smurphy@nxlevelsolutions.com.
Have a great rest of the week!
