Transparency & HCP Engagement Conference 2025: Global Insights for Local Compliance
Author
May Khan leads the Compliance Services team at Vector Health, a SaaS company focused on life sciences compliance. Her experience includes global transparency reporting, Sunshine Act strategy, and HCP risk monitoring. At Vector, she coordinates cross-functional teams focused on data integrity, customer service, and regulatory alignment.
Vector Health Compliance
Italy’s leading Sunshine Act compliance partner
Vector Health was proud to sponsor Informa Connect’s Transparency & HCP Engagement Conference 2025 in Washington, D.C and host a dinner in collaboration with the Italian Sunshine Reporting community. Over three days, global compliance leaders, regulators, and industry experts came together to discuss how life sciences organizations can ensure transparency reporting and HCP engagement remain accurate, compliant, and future-ready.
The message was clear: transparency is global in scope, but its impact depends on local application. From the U.S. to Europe and Italy’s Sanità Trasparente, regulators and companies alike are raising expectations and compliance teams must be ready.
Enforcement & Oversight: DOJ and CMS Set the Agenda
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) emphasized a faster, more data-driven enforcement model. With a growing focus on individual accountability and cases expanding from individuals to corporations, compliance culture is now seen as a decisive factor in enforcement.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided an update on Open Payments 2.0, with new dashboards, monitoring tools, and an expanded use of desk audits. Nearly 1,800 companies and 990,000+ recipients were covered in the most recent cycle, making U.S. Sunshine Reporting more critical and more scrutinized than ever, emphasizing that audit readiness is no longer optional.
Data Quality and Research Spend: The Weakest Links
Across sessions, speakers reinforced that data quality is the foundation of compliance. Duplicate entries, fragmented systems, and inconsistent identifiers continue to create vulnerabilities. Best practices included Master Data Management (MDM) systems, governance councils, and sub-certification processes for shared accountability.
Research spend reporting emerged as another pressure point. Complex global trials and multi-entity contracts require structured systems and CRO accountability. One best practice highlighted was revising contracts with CROs to include explicit transparency obligations, a simple step that reduced reporting errors by 90%.
Technology, AI, and the Future of Monitoring
Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation featured prominently in conference discussions. Use cases ranged from predictive analytics to detect anomalies, to automated vendor checks and monitoring speaker programs.
But the consensus was cautious: AI must enhance, not replace, compliance judgment. Strong human oversight and governance remain essential to avoid risks like “teaching” AI non-compliant behaviors.
From Global to Local: Applying Learnings Beyond the U.S.
While much of the discussion focused on CMS Open Payments and U.S. enforcement, the lessons carry weight globally. In Europe, and especially in Italy, the launch of Sanità Trasparente is reshaping how companies prepare their systems, XML processes, and teams for Sunshine Reporting.
At Vector Health, our role is to help clients translate global compliance insights into local action, whether that means applying DOJ lessons on accountability to corporate culture, or adapting CMS audit practices to Italy’s evolving reporting requirements.
As part of this year’s conference, we co-hosted an informal networking dinner with the Italian Sunshine Reporting community, giving Italy’s compliance leaders a seat at the global table. That exchange underscored the importance of connecting international insights with Italy’s unique regulatory and cultural context.
What’s Next
The Transparency & HCP Engagement Conference 2025 confirmed what we already know: transparency reporting is more than just compliance, it is accountability, trust, and business resilience.
Request our full PDF summary for detailed insights from the conference, including DOJ enforcement priorities, CMS audit trends, data management best practices, and research spend strategies.
Stay tuned — together with the Italian Sunshine Reporting community, we’re bringing these global insights to Italy this September through a dedicated workshop.