THE OPEN PAYMENTS PROGRAM: WHAT IT IS AND WHY IT MATTERS

Open Payments is a national disclosure program within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that provides visibility into financial relationships between drug and medical device companies and physicians, physician assistants, advanced practice nurses, and teaching hospitals.

Each year, pharmaceutical and medical device companies must report to CMS the payments and other transfers of value for research, meals, travel, gifts, speaking fees, and more they made to physicians, physicians assistants, and advanced practice nurses (known as covered recipients).

CMS makes this data available to the public at OpenPaymentsData.CMS.gov, where anyone can search for health care providers and see the payments they received, when they received them, and the companies that made the payments. Prior to the data publication, covered recipients are offered an opportunity to review, affirm, and, if necessary, dispute data attributed to them that they believe is inaccurate or incomplete in any way. The review and dispute process is voluntary, but strongly encouraged as this helps ensure the accuracy of the data.

Prior to 2021, covered recipients under Open Payments included only physicians and teaching hospitals. Starting in 2021, the program expanded to also include nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, anesthesiologist assistants, and certified nurse- midwives.

Open Payments covered recipients can sign up for updates at Open Payments Contact Us Page..

Additional information is also available at https://www.cms.gov/OpenPayments

Fast Facts About Open Payments

  • Open Payments has reported $59.52 billion in payments and 78.52 million total records from more than 2,000 companies.
  • As of June 2021, these payments are attributed to 1.08 million physicians and 1,300 teaching hospitals. Newly covered recipients will appear for the first time in the data in the June 2022 publication.
  • Open Payments data has been used in hundreds of industry articles, yet many health care providers remain unfamiliar with the program.

How the Program Works

The program collects and makes publicly available data reported by drug and medical device companies to shed light on payments and other transfers of value that take place between the industry and health care providers each year. This includes general payments such as:

  • Consulting and speaking fees
  • Honoraria, gifts, and royalties
  • Grants and charitable contributions
  • Entertainment, travel, lodging, food, and beverage
  • Medical education programs
  • Space rental or facility fees
  • Debt forgiveness
  • Long-term medical supply or device loans
  • Acquisitions
  • Research payments
  • Ownership and Investment Interests*

Applicable research payments and ownership or investment interests must also be reported.

Expansion of the Open Payments Program

As required by the SUPPORT Act (P.L. 115-271), in 2021 the Open Payments program expanded to encompass payments made to advanced practice nurses and physician assistants.

Open Payments registration for the newly added covered providers began in early 2022. Advanced practice nurses and physician assistants are now able to review and affirm or dispute financial information reported about them before it is published. The reported data will be released to the public by CMS in June 2022.

Why Participation Matters

CMS has indexed Open Payments data so that it is easy for patients and others to conduct targeted searches by individual provider, teaching hospital, or company, as well as by medical specialty, and other parameters.

Registration in the system and review of data by providers are voluntary activities, but are highly encouraged to help ensure that the database remains an accurate and useful tool.

CMS does not mediate or facilitate disputes; reporting entities and covered recipients should work together to reach dispute resolutions. CMS collects and publishes payment data for public use and interpretation. CMS does not identify which financial relationships are beneficial and which may cause conflicts of interests.

Information provided by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

All materials on this site have been paid for and developed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and are for use relating to Open Payments. They are provided for free.

*Ownership and Investment Interest only applies to Physicians.