Shining a Light on Industry Payments to Health Care Professionals Who Are Not Physicians

DeJong and Steinbrook discuss industry payments to health care professionals who are not physicians. The 2010 Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires public reporting of industry payments to physicians and teaching hospitals in the US. Since its passage, the association between receipt of payments and increased prescribing of higher-cost medications has been repeatedly demonstrated. The full impact of these payments remains unclear, however, because the Sunshine Act did not apply to prescribers who were not physicians. In 2022, that will change. A provision, "Fighting the Opioid Epidemic with Sunshine," of a 2018 federal law expands public reporting of industry payments to include nurse practitioners, physician assistants, certified nurse midwives, certified nurse anesthetists, and clinical nurse specialists.