Network with more than 30 companies at the completely revamped ACI Sunshine Act conference

NEW YORK - Aug. 17, 2015 - PRLog -- American Conference Institute (ACI) is pleased to announce a brand new and completely revamped agenda for its successful 8^th annual Sunshine Act, Open Payments, and Aggregate Spend Conference at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Times Square in New York City on October 14-16, 2015.  Timelier than ever in light of recently released CMS metrics stating that over 11 million records have been reported accounting for over $6 billion, this is the only event of its kind which brings together an exceptional in-house presence on the faculty, the top defense firms representing biopharmaceutical and medical device companies, and state and federal enforcers.

Throughout the event, our expert faculty, including representatives from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Daiichi Sankyo, Otsuka, Smith & Nephew, Zimmer Biomet, and many more, will provide practical tips and share real-world experience that will help shape the next steps in compliance programs and data management and utilization.  The entire program boasts a new focus, with sessions including:

• In-House Roundtable: What’s Next?  Reviewing the Kinks in, Nuts and Bolts of, and Patches for Reporting Challenges and Identifying Best Practices to Ensure Systems are as Effective as Possible

• Lessons Learned from the Dispute Reporting Process: What Works and What Needs Work?

• Mitigating Exposure to Liability that Stems from the Sunshine Act: Fair Market Value, Transfers of Value, Contracting, M&A, and More

• Taking a Deep Dive into the Thorny Policy Issues Stemming from the Sunshine Act: 21st Century Cures Act

• Government Enforcers’ Panel: Sharing Insight and Initiatives to Enforce Sunshine Act Compliance Now that the Data is Public

• Reducing the Pain-Points Associated with Grants and Clinical Trials: Overcoming Lacking CMS Guidance and Creating a Unified System

• Extracting the Most Value Out of Your Sunshine Data through a Robust Internal Monitoring, Investigation, and Auditing System

• Anticipating and Addressing Media Inquiries: Defending Your Company at a Reputational Level

Reacting to this year’s faculty and program content, speaker Stefanie Doebler, Special Counsel at Covington & Burling LLP, noted, “Every year, the ACI Sunshine conference provides an important opportunity for legal, compliance, transparency, and other professionals to compare notes on the challenges they face in collecting, aggregating, and collecting payment information.  Now that companies have been through the process twice, they are grappling with more sophisticated questions about how the data will be perceived by third parties and how they can use their own data to enhance their compliance programs.   The conference agenda has been completely revamped to reflect these emerging issues, and the collaborative nature of the conference will continue to afford participants the best opportunity to learn from one another. ”

When asked about the new program content, Leigh Leventhal, Senior Director, Legal Programs at ACI, observed, “The time to learn about how and what to report has passed. This year’s event takes an entirely new approach and is something not seen anywhere else on the market.  Companies are now faced with the challenge not only of mitigating and avoiding liability that stems from Sunshine reporting data, but also internally managing and maximizing the value of the data that has been collected.  This event focuses on providing the answer to the burning question in all manufacturers’ minds: What are the next steps?”

More information about this event, including a full agenda, faculty list, and brochure can be accessed at www.AmericanConference.com/AggregateSpend.

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A unique organization, American Conference Institute is devoted to providing the business intelligence that senior decision-makers need to respond to challenges both here in the US, and around the world.

Staffed by industry specialists, lawyers and other professionals, American Conference Institute operates as a think tank, monitoring trends and developments in all major industry sectors, the law, and public policy, with a view to providing information on the leading edge.

Headquartered in New York and led by  Leigh Gilmore, Senior Vice President, and Seth Kerker, Managing Director, American Conference Institute has grown to produce more than 220 events each year, attended by thousands of senior delegates from across the country.