Open Payments Data Overview

Data Overview

Open Payments data is publicly accessible information about payments and transfers of value that reporting entities make to covered recipients. Reporting entities are responsible for tracking these financial transactions annually and must submit this data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

CMS publishes full datasets for the previous program year annually on or before June 30 and refreshes the data in January of each year. The data is publicly accessible via the Open Payments Search Tool. Individual program year data sets are available on the Dataset Download Page.

Over the past seven years, CMS has published a total of 80.66 million records, accounting for $68.44 billion in payments and ownership and investment interests.

Detailed data from 2016-2022 is available on the Open Payments Search Tool. Data from 2013-2015 is available on the Archived Datasets page.

Open Payments Program Year 2022

Pie chart showing $10.90 Billion (Total Value of Records published in 2021); $2.55 Billion (General Payments); $7.09 Billion (Research Payments); $1.26 Billion (Ownership and Investment Interest Payments)
$12.59 Billion

Total Value of Records Published in 2022

Image of a Pie Chart Depicting Payments by Category
Payment Amount by Type
Image Depicting General Payments
$3.71 Billion
General Payments
Image Depicting Research Payments
$7.58 Billion
Research Payments
Image Depicting Ownership and Investment Interests
$1.29 Billion
Ownership/Investment Interest*

*Ownership or Investment Interest includes those held by physicians or their immediate family members. This category is not applicable to non-physician practitioner covered recipients or teaching hospital covered recipients.

14.11 Million Total Records Published in 2022

Image Depicting a Physician
588,514
Total Physicians with Payment Records
Icon depicting non-physician practitioners
271,682
Total Non-Physician Practitioners with Payment Records
Image Depicting a Teaching Hospital
1,240
Total Teaching Hospitals with Payment Records
Image Depicting a Company
1,742
Total Companies Making Payments

What Data is Reported to Open Payments?

Data is reported across three payment categories:

  • General Payments - Payments or transfers of value that are not in connection with a research agreement or research protocol
  • Research Payments - Payments or transfers of value made in connection with a formal research agreement or research protocol
  • Ownership and Investment Interests - Information about the ownership or investment interests that physicians or their immediate family members have with the reporting entities

These payments can be reported as:

  • Direct Payments - Paid directly to covered recipients
  • Indirect Payments - Paid indirectly to covered recipients through an intermediary such as a medical specialty society
  • Third Party Payments - Designated by covered recipients to be paid to another party

Reporting entities may request a delay in publication for certain payment records related to research and development. A delay in publication request may be renewed annually up to four calendar years after the date of payment.

Learn More

Find out more about the Open Payments program.

Learn how to access and explore the data collected by Open Payments.

Get more information about the data we collect and how we publish it in the Methodology and Data Dictionary (PDF).

Page Last Modified:
09/06/2023 04:51 PM