Conflict of Interest Management Tool Links with ProPublica's "Dollars for Docs" Database

JERICHO, N.Y., Oct. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- HCCS (Health Care Compliance Strategies, Inc.), the leading provider of online healthcare compliance and competency training and tracking solutions, today announced the release of a new enhancement to COI-SMART that provides direct connectivity to the ProPublica "Dollars for Docs" database of industry payments to physicians. COI-SMART is a web-based system for the management and real-time tracking of Conflict of Interest disclosures. 

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HCCS' COI-SMART now includes the ProPublica "Dollar for Docs" widget which allows people to search information that is publically available on the ProPublica site. ProPublica is a non-profit organization that collects and displays several sources of publicly available payment data. ProPublica's "Dollars for Docs" database includes more than $760 million in payments from pharmaceutical companies to physicians and other health-care providers for consulting, speaking, research and expenses.

Providing connectivity to the ProPublica database in COI-SMART allows reviewers to quickly and easily look up public data and compare it to physician self-disclosures in COI-SMART. It also serves as a reminder to physicians making disclosures that this information is publically available and should be reviewed before disclosing in COI-SMART.

"This is the first step in providing reviewers and physicians with access to public financial disclosure data directly in COI-SMART," says Ben Diamond, President of HCCS. "As more comprehensive data becomes available through the 'Physician Payment Sunshine Act' database, we will be able to provide even more detailed comparison and discrepancy reporting. The ultimate goal is to make it easier for healthcare organizations to track and manage disclosures while providing a complete picture of potential conflicts and risks."

COI-SMART provides comprehensive tools for tracking and managing Conflict of Interest disclosures. COI-SMART:

• Automates cumbersome manual processes
• Tracks and manages conflicts
• Meets NIH COI requirements
• Manages IRS Form 990 requirements
• Will integrate with the Physician Payment Sunshine Act database

COI-SMART provides organizations with the tools for automated assignment of reviewers, the development of conflict of interest management plans, and data mining tools for auditing, tracking and reporting on potential conflicts of interest. The software conforms to an institution's management process and provides the necessary framework to manage conflicts of interest in the manner that best fits each organization. The system can be used for an annual COI survey process as well as for transactional or "elective" questionnaires. It can be linked to a Research Management portal, and can provide output, if desired, for a public disclosure website.

ProPublica is not involved in the creation or marketing of the COI-SMART product. 

About HCCS
HCCS has provided over 7 million hours of compliance and competency online training courses to hospitals, teaching facilities, Universities, medical schools, health plans and other health care entities. The HCCS Compliance Learning Library contains expert training content in the areas of Medicare, Medicaid, HIPAA, Harassment, Research, Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Compliance. The HCCS COI-SMART system provides a comprehensive tool for tracking and managing Conflict of Interest disclosures.

For more information about HCCS products, contact HCCS at (877) 933-4227, by email at [email protected], or via the web at www.hccs.com or www.coismart.com.

SOURCE Health Care Compliance Strategies, Inc.