CMS Notice to Patients HIPAA Compliant Notice to Patients: CMS Open Payments At Bonmente, we believe patients should have access to information that helps them make informed decisions about their health care. As part of that commitment to transparency, we want our patients to be aware of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments program. What Is Open Payments? Open Payments is a federal transparency program administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The program collects and publishes information about certain financial relationships between health care providers and companies that manufacture drugs, medical devices, biological products, and medical supplies. Drug and medical device manufacturers and certain group purchasing organizations are required to report qualifying payments and other transfers of value made to physicians and other covered health care practitioners. CMS publishes this information in a publicly accessible database. Examples of information that may be reported through Open Payments can include certain: Consulting fees Speaking or educational fees Meals and travel Research-related payments Gifts Grants Ownership or investment interests Other qualifying payments or transfers of value Not every interaction between a health care professional and a company is necessarily reportable, and the appearance of a payment or transfer of value in the Open Payments database does not necessarily indicate that a provider has a conflict of interest or that the relationship influenced a patient’s care. CMS states that it does not determine whether the relationships reported through Open Payments are beneficial or constitute potential conflicts of interest. Instead, the information is made publicly available so patients and others can review it and draw their own conclusions. Why Does CMS Make This Information Public? Financial relationships between health care professionals and the health care industry can serve legitimate purposes. Physicians and other clinicians may participate in research, provide expertise in the development of new treatments, teach other health care professionals, or provide consulting services. At the same time, patients may want to know about these relationships. The purpose of Open Payments is to increase transparency by giving patients and the public access to information about certain financial relationships between the health care industry and health care professionals. Your Right to Review Open Payments Information Patients may search the CMS Open Payments database to determine whether payments or other transfers of value have been reported for a particular physician or other covered practitioner. The database is maintained by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and is available to the public at OpenPaymentsData.cms.gov. You can search the database by the name of a physician or other covered health care practitioner. Understanding the Information You Find If you find a payment associated with one of your health care providers, it is important to consider the context. For example, a reported payment could be associated with research, professional education, consulting, travel, a meal provided during an educational event, or another qualifying activity. A reported payment does not necessarily mean that the provider personally received cash in the amount displayed or that the relationship affected a treatment recommendation. CMS publishes information submitted by the companies and organizations responsible for reporting these transactions. Covered health care practitioners have an opportunity to review and dispute information attributed to them through the Open Payments system. Questions About Your Care? Bonmente encourages patients to be active participants in their mental health care. If you have questions about a treatment recommendation, medication, potential alternatives, risks and benefits, or why a particular treatment has been recommended, we encourage you to discuss those questions directly with your Bonmente provider. Our goal is to provide individualized mental health care based on your clinical needs and to give you the information you need to participate meaningfully in decisions about your treatment. CMS Open Payments Resources For additional information about the Open Payments program or to search the public database, visit: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Open Payments ProgramCMS.gov/OpenPayments Search the Open Payments DatabaseOpenPaymentsData.cms.gov
