“Let him bleed, nurse—I’m busy with the 47 data points.”

If you wonder why your doctor doesn’t seem to have as much time for you as before, the new “Sunshine Act” reporting requirements are part of the reason. I’ve written elsewhere about the byzantine complexity of the new regulations. Now we’re being treated to the 27-page “User Guide for Industry,” issued by the government agency responsible for enforcing the law.

Keep in mind when skimming this—and believe me, you don’t want to try to understand or make sense of it, unless your job requires it—that this is the boiled down, simplified version. The underlying law is virtually impenetrable, like the rest of the Obamacare statute. (And by the way, the User Guide’s disclaimer makes it clear that if the Guide misleads you, you’re still liable to be penalized by the underlying law.)

Just consider this: On pages 7 through 12, I counted forty-seven separate items of data that have to be reported about every bagel, lunch, hotel room, or airplane ticket that a comes to a doctor by way of a (presumed to be crooked) drug company or medical device maker.

The cynical view counts the “Sunshine Act” as a full employment bill for clerks, accountants, and lawyers. But it’s much worse than that. It’s a law that forcibly distracts your doctor from caring for your health.

Image credit:  Steven Depolo via Compfight

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