ELLICOTT CITY, Md., June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Adam Chasse,
vice president for business development at RxTrials, Inc., will
participate in a presentation on Capitol Hill this Friday, June 17,
regarding the Physician Payment Sunshine provisions of the health
care reform legislation passed last year. Chasse will join
representatives of the Association of Clinical Research
Organizations (ACRO) and other industry stakeholders in the
briefing for legislative staffers.
The Physician Payment Sunshine provisions were part of the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law on March
23, 2010. The provisions require drug and medical device
manufacturers to publicly report gifts and payments of more than
$10 made to physicians and teaching hospitals. Examples of what
must be reported include stock options, consulting fees, travel and
lodging for conferences, honoraria, and research funding or grants.
Reporting is to begin for payments in the 2012 calendar year. The
information is to be fully reported by March 31, 2013, and posted
in a searchable database starting September 30, 2013.
It is the opinion of Chasse and other clinical research industry
professionals that disclosing payments made to physicians who serve
as principal investigators for clinical research adds great cost
and complexity to research & development for relatively small
benefit.
“Research grants differ from consulting fees in that they are
intended to cover the very real costs providers incur when
conducting clinical research; average profit margins are minimal,
so grants are unlikely to entice physicians to write more
prescriptions for the pharma company’s drug,” Chasse said. “Plus,
grants typically flow through one or more intermediaries such as a
CRO, research management company, or university, making it very
difficult to quantify what the physician actually receives. Our
goal on Friday is to explain the challenges these provisions
present to our industry.”
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