June 9, 2014 – In a recent Pharmalot blog post on The Wall Street Journal site, Ed Silverman writes that as the first round of Sunshine Act lump sum payment reporting concludes and as the second phase of complete payment details reporting begins, drug makers are “uneasy.”

“In a recent survey, drug makers came across payments that raised compliance concerns; expressed confusion about assigning certain items given physicians; encountered formatting problems that caused submissions to be rejected, and worry there will be discrepancies as more granular reporting occurs,” Silverman wrote.

“Now that the Sunshine Act implementation is in full swing, drug companies are in the weeds over how and what to report,” said Coalition for Healthcare Communication Executive Director John Kamp. “The Sunshine Act transparency initiative puts immense pressure on industry to correctly categorize payments to physicians. It will take years to develop the consistency needed for clear transparency.  However, despite Sunshine’s learning curve, companies are doing their best to get it right,” he noted.

To view the full WSJ Pharmalot blog post, “Sunshine … or Clouds? Drug Makers Grapple with Transparency Law,” go to: http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2014/06/05/sunshine-or-clouds-drug-makers-grapple-with-transparency-law/