Open payments registration begins June 1

On June 1, physicians and teaching hospital representatives can begin registering for the Open Payments program through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Enterprise Portal. Open Payments is a federally run transparency program that will collect and make public information about financial relationships among the health care industry, physicians, and teaching hospitals.

Registration is voluntary but is required if physicians or teaching hospitals want to review and dispute the data reported about them. Physicians can learn more about Open Payments requirements by reviewing the CMS Program Overview for Physicians.

Registration for physicians and teaching hospitals will be conducted in 2 phases for this first Open Payments reporting year.

• Phase 1 (begins June 1): Users can register in CMS’ Enterprise Portal. This registration is required to obtain access to and review information submitted about oneself by industry during Phase 2.
• Phase 2 (begins in July): Registered users in the Open Payments system can review and dispute data submitted by applicable manufacturers and applicable group purchasing organizations (GPOs) prior to public posting of the data. (Note: Any data that are disputed, if not corrected by industry, will still be made public but will be marked as disputed. Learn more about the review and dispute process online. )

CMS is offering several resources related to Open Payments, including continuing education materials, a brochure for patients, and a mobile app to help physicians track payments and other transfers of value they receive throughout the year.