Since 2016 Minas Gerais has been establishing transparency laws to create a system whereby consumers and society at large will have access to information regarding incentives and payments between healthcare professionals and the health industry. This initiative has been entitled 'Sunshine Act Mineiro', as State Laws 22,440/16 and 22,921/18 have similarities with the Physician Payments Sunshine Act – the 2010 US healthcare law created to increase the transparency of financial relationships between healthcare professionals and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Under the state laws, the health industry (mainly drug and medical device companies) must provide information on the relationships that they maintain with healthcare professionals which may represent a potential conflict of interest. Per the new rules, information on the beneficiary (individual or legal entity), donor and object of a donation must be provided annually through Declara SUS, a government webtool.
Companies must submit their information regarding 2017 by the end of 2018.
As of May 2018,(1) only 12 companies had presented information for 2017. Most of these companies were pharmaceutical companies, followed by orthoses, prostheses and special materials industries, as described in the graphic below.
With regard to the object of a donation, most of the information provided thus far relates to travel and educational expenses and meals. The following graphic shows the number of expenses on the website by type.
This preliminary review demonstrates that although the provision of information on Declara SUS is still modest, transparency is undoubtedly increasing in the health sector. This trend is likely to become a legal requirement in other Brazilian states in the near future.
For further information on this topic please contact Elysangela de Oliveira Rabelo Maurer or Marco Aurélio Torronteguy at TozziniFreire Advogados by telephone (+55 11 5086 5000) or email ([email protected] or [email protected]). The TozziniFreire Advogados website can be accessed at www.tozzinifreire.com.br.
Endnotes
(1) Declara SUS on 21 May 2018 and 8 June 2018.
