Industry and consumer-advocacy groups are voicing concerns about Health and Human Services Dept. delays in implementing the physician-payment disclosure provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The agency missed the law’s Oct. 1 deadline for issuing regulatory guidance to pharmaceutical and medical-device companies on how to report payments to physicians. Reporting of any consulting fees, honoraria, travel and entertainment worth more than $10 given to doctors is supposed to start March 31, 2013, with the information available on a searchable federal government website starting Sept. 30, 2013. Beginning in 2012, companies are required to start collecting the data to be reported publicly.

My latest. Read the whole shebang.