CMS has reopened the Open Payments system after it was taken offline temporarily to "resolve a data integrity issue." According to a CMS press release, applicable manufacturers and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) had submitted intermingled data (e.g., wrong state license number or national provider identifier) for doctors with the same last and first names, which erroneously linked payments in the Open Payments system. CMS has enhanced its algorithms and validation checks in an attempt to resolve the issues and removed incorrect payment transactions. CMS states that it will remove the questionable data from the current review and dispute process and will not publish this data this year; according to multiple press reports, this has resulted in the removal of one-third of the records from the system.
CMS has also extended the Open Payments review and dispute deadline and the following 15-day corrections period deadline for each day the Open Payments system was offline. The review and dispute period now ends September 8, 2014, the correction period will run through September 9-23, 2014, and the public website launch date remains September 30, 2014.
CMS contends that its correction efforts underscores that it "is committed to ensuring the integrity of data made available to the public." Nevertheless, the scope of the reported errors and the exclusion of millions of records raise broader questions about the accuracy and completeness of the database and heighten concerns about the potential for public and press misinterpretation of the incomplete data set.
This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.
