Healthcare Data GlossaryRegulatory
Sunshine Act: Definition and Healthcare Context
Full name: Physician Payments Sunshine Act
The Physician Payments Sunshine Act (Section 6002 of the Affordable Care Act) requires applicable manufacturers and group purchasing organizations to report to CMS all payments or transfers of value made to physicians and teaching hospitals. CMS collects and publicly discloses this data through the Open Payments program. The law was enacted to increase transparency about financial relationships between health care industry and practitioners. Reportable transfers include research payments, honoraria, entertainment, consulting fees, gifts, and speaker program payments.
Last updated: 2026-05-31Reviewed by: Dr. Jennifer Montecillo, MD — Gullas College of Medicine, 2019. Non-practicing medical reviewer.
How it’s used
- CMS Open Payments: the Sunshine Act is the statutory basis for the Open Payments data that Fonteum ingests to annotate provider financial disclosure records.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Sunshine Act?
- The Sunshine Act (Section 6002 of the ACA) requires drug and device manufacturers and GPOs to report all payments and transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals to CMS.
- What is the relationship between the Sunshine Act and Open Payments?
- The Sunshine Act is the law that mandates reporting. Open Payments is CMS's system for collecting, verifying, and publicly disclosing those reports.
- Is the Sunshine Act the same as Open Payments?
- Not exactly. The Sunshine Act is the statute; Open Payments is the CMS program that implements it.