Forecasting Unanticipated Consequences of “The Sunshine Act”: Mostly Cloudy

On September 6, 2007, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and five bipartisan cosponsors introduced the Physician Payment Sunshine Act (S. 2029)1 in the wake of public concerns regarding conflict of interest of practicing physicians. Although the Grassley bill was never passed, its fundamental concept was incorporated into Section 6002 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 22, 2010.2 This section of the ACA is commonly referred to as “The Sunshine Act,” which was subsequently implemented by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) through its Final Rule, as published on February 8, 2013, in the Federal Register.3