Connecticut delays the implementation date for its the APRN reporting law, CMS releases 2013 Medicare Part D data, the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct is approved, and lawmakers release draft legislation that includes an exclusion for reporting CME payments under Sunshine.
Avengers Assemble! The highly anticipated Avengers: Age of Ultron, opened last weekend and apparently a lot of us assembled for the opening. The film managed to land the second largest opening weekend box office numbers in history. Considering the title holder is the first Avengers movie, coming in second isn’t that much of a loss for the franchise. You won’t find any spoilers here…after all, not all of the Compliance News in Review staff have seen it yet.
The next Avengers movie is slated for 2018, but in the meantime we can look forward to 2017 and the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie…and of course, collecting spend data for APRNs in Connecticut. The State has once again delayed the implementation date for the law, which requires drug and device manufacturers to report transfers of value to APRNs.
$103 billion: Tony Stark’s net worth or Medicare drug spending? If you answered Medicare drug spending, you are correct. CMS released data revealing the prescriptions that were covered by Medicare Part D in 2013 and the names of the doctors who wrote the scripts. The costliest drug was Nexium at $2.5 billion, and the most prescribed drug was Lisinopril (cost $300M). PhRMA said the data does not reflect the substantial rebates pharmaceutical companies pay to Medicare. The American Medical Association said the data could be misleading because the dose and strength of the medication is not included in the information. Doctors often change the dosage or strength when patients don’t respond as expected.
After extensive negotiations, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has approved Medicines Australia’s Code of Conduct. Much to the chagrin of industry critics, the ACCC went along with a change that will impose a $120 spending limit on meals and beverages provided to physicians. The “opt out” loophole has also been removed. The Code goes into effect in mid-May.
Lawmakers introduced a draft legislation “sequel” that includes an exclusion for most payments associated with CME from the Sunshine Act reporting requirements. The move to exclude the requirements was applauded by the head of the CME Coalition. The legislation is part of the larger 21st Century Cures effort, and is a paired down version of a draft that was originally introduced in January. Drug makers would also be able to share health economic information about products with physicians.
With that, we have reached the end of this week’s compliance tale. Speaking of the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct, the new PharmaCertify™ module, Global Transparency: Reporting HCP and HCO Transfers of Value includes up-to-date covering the policy, as well as the EFPIA Disclosure Code and Loi Bertrand in France. Contact Sean Murphy at smurphy@nxlevelsolutions.com for more information.
Have a great week everyone!
