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Representatives introduce version of Physician Payment Sunshine Act

Pharma Compliance Alert, March 19, 2008

Congress took one step closer to requiring pharmaceutical and medical device companies to disclose payments to physicians.

Last fall, Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) introduced the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, which would require pharmaceutical and medical device companies to disclose all gifts over $25 given to physicians. It also requires companies to disclose funding for medical education.

The House of Representatives took up the cause last week when Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark (D- CA) introduced a similar bill.

"If the billions of dollars drug companies spend taking doctors on trips to the Caribbean and to expensive dinners at the country's finest restaurants are above-board, then the pharmaceutical industry should support our legislation," DeFazio said in a statement. "This bill will keep the pharmaceutical industry honest."

Neither the House nor the Senate bill contains an explicit pre-emption clause. If the act passes it could mean more paperwork for pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Pharmaceutical companies currently have to report money and gifts in some states. Each state has its own specific rules and reporting forms. Without a preemption clause, the federal rule will be another layer of tracking and paperwork for companies, increasing the amount of time and effort companies have to spend to ensure they are in compliance with each different law.

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