Reed Smith’s Global Regulatory Enforcement Law Blog features a post on a recent decision by the French Supreme Administrative Court (Conseil d’Etat) that expands the scope of the French Sunshine Act. “French Supreme Administrative Court Decision Significantly Broadens the Scope of the French Sunshine Act,” written by Reed Smith attorneys Daniel Kadar and Caroline Gouraud, … Continue Reading
As drug and device manufacturers continue to await final regulations and subsequent implementation of the federal Physician Payment Sunshine Act, passed as part of the Affordable Care Act, Massachusetts has relaxed its similar state law banning the provision by manufacturers of gifts to health care practitioners (“HCPs”) and requiring disclosure of payments and transfers of … Continue Reading
On May 26, 2011, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law Senate Bill 104 ("S.104"), significantly modifying Vermont law banning the provision by manufacturers of gifts to health care providers and requiring disclosure of certain allowable expenditures and gifts to health care providers (18 V.S.A. § 4631a and 18 V.S.A. § 4632). S.104 follows amendments made to the Vermont gift ban and disclosure law enacted just last year. This Client Alert includes a summary of the modifications pursuant to S.104. Except as otherwise noted, the changes are effective July 1, 2011.… Continue Reading
States are increasingly imposing marketing restrictions on device manufacturers through laws that previously focused more specifically on pharmaceutical manufacturers. These laws affect compliance activities and relationships with providers, and create new reporting obligations. The impact is significant in that these state laws directly influence how companies conduct business and interact with customers, but implementation is complicated by the variations that exist between states.
Most significantly, under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("ACA"), beginning March 31, 2013, and annually thereafter, device manufacturers must report payments to physicians and teaching hospitals during the preceding calendar year. This means manufacturers must be prepared to track payments in a comprehensive manner as of January 1, 2012. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS") is now in the early stages of developing specific provisions to implement the new ACA provisions, with publication of proposed regulations to occur not later than October 1, 2011.
This Client Alert provides a brief overview of the existing state marketing laws that apply to device manufacturers, including recent changes to those laws, as well as federal reporting requirements under the ACA. Although the laws discussed may apply broadly to other entities, we refer in our Client Alert specifically to medical device manufacturers.… Continue Reading
The Medicare secondary payer ("MSP") law requires Medicare to be the "secondary" payer of health benefits for Medicare beneficiaries where another entity is the "primary" payer of health benefits. Determining whether another entity is "primary" and when Medicare is "secondary" has often been difficult due to the wide range of circumstances in which another party may be responsible for a Medicare beneficiary's health expenses, the number of potential parties involved, and the somewhat confusing terminology in the law itself. As a result, Congress enacted new rules to enhance the enforcement of the MSP law. Any entity that might pay settlements to Medicare-eligible plaintiffs that would cover any health expenses, or might otherwise compensate Medicare beneficiaries for health expenses as part of group health insurance, workers' compensation, or any other arrangement or plan, needs to become familiar with these new rules. Specifically, Congress now requires such entities to (1) register as a responsible reporting entity ("RRE"), and (2) electronically report information to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS").CMS will use this information to track and recover health expenses it incurred on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries but that another entity, as a primary payer under the existing MSP requirements, may be responsible for paying.… Continue Reading
