CMS has released a beta version of its Open Payments search tool, which is intended to facilitate public review of payments and transfers of value made by drug and device manufacturers and group purchasing organization (GPOs) to physicians and teaching hospitals, as well as physician ownership information.  The tool allows the public to search identified data for physicians, teaching hospitals, or companies.  CMS is also reminding applicable manufacturers and GPOs of an October 31, 2014 deadline for making corrections to any 2013 Open Payments disputed records for publication on or before December 31, 2014 (although data corrections can be performed at any time). Disputes that remain unresolved as of October 31, 2014 will display as disputed in the Open Payments database.

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