The Obama administration can make up for its fumbled rollout of a landmark consumer protection law -- the Physician Payments Sunshine Act -- by moving swiftly to ensure that national tracking of lucrative industry payments to doctors begins before the end of this year.

The law, passed in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act, called for payment data from drug and medical-device companies to be collected at the beginning of 2012, with information made public on a searchable website in 2013.

Despite bipartisan support for the measure, as well as strong backing from medical-device manufacturers, a key federal agency has blown major deadlines for the law's launch.

It's now mid-April, and payment tracking has yet to begin. If the federal agency -- the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) -- doesn't issue final compliance rules by this summer, it's likely that no payment data will be collected this year. In turn, that could push back the public website's 2013 debut.

Consumers deserve better. Firms sometimes pay large sums to medical providers as new treatments are researched. That collaboration is important for innovation, but the new law will ensure that patients can weigh their providers' potential conflicts of interest.

The CMS can still atone for its foot-dragging. If it issues the overdue guidelines in June, the agency could loosely stay on the timetable Congress called for. It would allow for some 2012 payment information to be collected this year -- about three months' worth -- and for some data to be made public in 2013.

"That would still be a good goal," said Allan Coukell, who has been a vocal advocate for the law as director of medical programs for the nonprofit Pew Health Group.

The law's bipartisan champions -- U.S. Sens. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa -- are also pushing the CMS to collect partial 2012 data. But questions in the senators' recent letter to the agency suggest that they're skeptical it has made the law a priority.

Among their queries: Has the CMS increased staffing or resources assigned to the law's launch? And will it commit to issuing a "request for proposal" to begin the technical work designing the website?

The CMS issued this statement to an editorial writer: "We are responding to the senators' letter, but that's all we can say about it now."

The agency owes consumers, as well as drug and device firms, a timetable and an explanation for the delay. Minnesota, a medical-device epicenter, has a critical interest in timely guidance so companies can prepare to follow the new law. Medtronic has already begun publicly disclosing payment data.

The Obama administration also has a critical interest in getting this right and getting it done, which is why the delay is so puzzling. A timely Sunshine Act rollout would reduce regulatory uncertainty for two important industries. It could also be touted as a commitment to transparency and consumer protection.

Leaving the law in limbo with a presidential election looming isn't smart policy or smart politics.

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