Are you ready? That's probably the most appropriate way to start off a blog entry concerning the soon to be implemented Physician Payment Sunshine Act. And the question isn't just for med-tech companies alone, it's for the physicians as well.

A recent survey conducted by MMIS, a company that develops secure communication solutions for firms, shows that physicians still aren't completely aware of the provision- which is set to go into effect in August (a little more than 4 months away. Yikes!). In a conversation with Medical Device Daily, Michaeline Daboul president/CEO MMIS said that survey results of the more than 1,000 physicians questioned show that more than half admitted they didn't know that the law required medical device companies and pharmaceutical companies to report on expenditures annually, without physician review of the data to correct any inconsistencies or errors prior to submission to the government.

Now there are probably tons of reasons why these physicians were unprepared for certain aspects of this law. Perhaps firms were hedging their bets that the Presidential election would go another way and that many provisions of the Affordable Care Act would be thrown out. Well that didn't happen and now med-tech companies and physicians have to deal with the law - or face hefty fines and damaged relationships if they aren't in compliance.

But that's where companies like MMIS come in. The company has designed a network that will allow physicians to become more familiar with the process and also view and possibly dispute payment entries prior to these said entries being made public.

It's an interesting network and MMIS has been talking to MDD about this for the last two years.

Obviously this company is ready, the question is are the med-tech firms and physicians out there ready?