The Hill News

Transparency is a word that often gets casually bandied about in Washington, especially when it comes to regulatory rulemakings. When done right, it can be a very good thing. But transparency without appropriate context runs the risk of actually muddying the waters and causing more confusion than clarity.

The ongoing implementation of the aptly named Physician Payment Sunshine provision of the Affordable Care Act offers a good example. This is a law that is intended to provide the public with transparency in interactions between biopharmaceutical companies and health care providers â€" and last Friday, PhRMA submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the related proposed rule.

Just as we supported the legislation that led to the law, PhRMA and its member companies continue to work as constructive partners to CMS during implementation. But we want to ensure that the ultimate outcome is not confusion or misrepresentation ! of information â€" rather, the goal should be a useful tool for patients to fully comprehend the role that their physicians play in clinical research and in the dissemination of scientific information among their peers.

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