How the CMS Open Payments Database Works and Why Your Doctor's Payments Are Listed
What the CMS Open Payments database is and who has to report to it
The CMS Open Payments database is a public record kept by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that lists money and gifts flowing from drug and device manufacturers to doctors, hospitals, and teaching hospitals. If a pharmaceutical company pays a doctor to speak at a conference, funds research, or gives them a meal, that payment gets reported here and published online.
Manufacturers must report payments and transfers of value made to physicians and teaching hospitals. The database launched in 2014 and now contains millions of records going back to 2013. Any doctor, hospital, or patient can search it for free at openpaymentsdata.cms.gov.
The law behind this is part of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, a section of the Affordable Care Act. It was designed to increase transparency around financial relationships between the medical industry and healthcare providers, so patients and doctors can see potential conflicts of interest.
Key Takeaways
- The CMS Open Payments database is a searchable public record of money paid by drug and device makers to doctors and hospitals, updated annually.
- Manufacturers must report all payments over $10, including speaking fees, research funding, meals, travel, and royalties from patents or licenses.
- You can search the database free at openpaymentsdata.cms.gov by doctor name, hospital, or manufacturer to see what payments were made.
- Payments are reported by the manufacturer in the year after they occur, so 2023 payments appear in the 2024 database release.
- Not all payments appear immediately—some are disputed or corrected, and corrections can take months to show up in the public record.
What kinds of payments get reported
Manufacturers report a wide range of financial relationships. The most common are speaking fees (payment for giving a talk at a conference or event), consulting fees (payment for advice or strategy work), research funding (grants to study a drug or device), and meals and travel (reimbursement for attending an event). Royalties from patents or licenses also appear if a doctor holds intellectual property rights.
The threshold for reporting is any payment or transfer of value over $10. Meals under $10 do not have to be reported individually, but if a manufacturer pays for a doctor's travel to a conference and covers meals, the travel portion gets reported. Payments to family members of physicians can also appear if the manufacturer knows about them and they are related to the doctor's work.
Ownership stakes and investment interests are reported separately in a different section of the database. If a doctor owns stock in a device company or has a financial interest in a manufacturer, that shows up as an ownership or investment record, not a payment.
How to search the database and read the results
Go to openpaymentsdata.cms.gov and use the search box. You can search by physician name, hospital name, or manufacturer name. The site will return a list of records with the doctor's name, the company that made the payment, the amount, the date, and the category of payment (speaking, consulting, research, etc.).
Each record also includes a brief description of what the payment was for. If a doctor was paid to speak about a specific drug, the record will say so. If it was a research grant, it will note the research topic. Some records have more detail than others depending on what the manufacturer reported.
The database updates once a year, usually in the fall. Data from 2023 payments, for example, would appear in the 2024 release. There is a lag because manufacturers have time to submit their reports, and CMS has time to review and publish them. You can also download the full dataset if you want to analyze it yourself.
Why payments get corrected or removed from the database
A manufacturer may report a payment incorrectly—wrong amount, wrong doctor, or wrong category. When that happens, they can submit a correction. The correction goes through a review process and eventually updates the public record. This can take several months, so you might see an old incorrect record for a while before the correction appears.
Payments can also be removed if a manufacturer and physician dispute whether the payment actually occurred or whether it should have been reported. These disputes are rare, but they do happen. The database notes when a record is disputed or corrected, so you can see the history.
If you find a payment listed under your name that you believe is wrong, you can contact the manufacturer directly to ask them to correct it. You can also report concerns to CMS, though CMS does not investigate individual disputes—that is between you and the company.
The difference between the Open Payments database and other financial disclosures
The Open Payments database is different from the financial disclosures doctors file with their employers or hospitals. A hospital may require doctors to disclose financial ties to drug companies as part of their credentialing process, but that information stays internal. Open Payments is public.
It is also different from FDA disclosures. The FDA requires doctors who testify about a drug or device to disclose financial ties, but that information is tied to a specific regulatory proceeding. Open Payments is a broader, ongoing record of all manufacturer payments.
Some states also keep their own payment registries or require additional disclosures. Open Payments is the federal database, but your state may have its own rules on top of it.
What the database does and does not tell you
The database shows you that a financial relationship exists. It does not tell you whether the relationship influenced a doctor's medical decisions or recommendations. A doctor who receives a speaking fee from a drug company may still prescribe that drug appropriately, or may not prescribe it at all. The payment is a fact; what it means is up to you to decide.
The database also does not include payments to nurses, physician assistants, or other healthcare workers—only physicians and teaching hospitals. It does not include payments made before 2013. And it does not include payments made by health insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers, or other entities that are not drug or device manufacturers.
Some manufacturers may underreport or fail to report payments, though CMS audits submissions. If a payment is not in the database, it does not necessarily mean it did not happen—it may mean it was not reported.
How to use this information when choosing a doctor or evaluating treatment options
Knowing that a doctor has financial ties to a manufacturer is one piece of information. You might use it to ask your doctor questions: "I see you received a speaking fee from this company. Can you explain why you recommend their drug?" A doctor can have legitimate reasons for accepting payment—they may be an expert in the field, or they may have conducted important research.
The database is most useful when combined with other information: the doctor's training and credentials, patient reviews, your own research on treatment options, and a second opinion if you are unsure. A single payment does not disqualify a doctor, but a pattern of large payments from one manufacturer might be worth asking about.
You can also use the database to see which manufacturers are funding research at your local hospital, or to understand the financial landscape of a particular drug or device category. If you are considering a new treatment, searching for payments to doctors who recommend it can give you context.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I find out how much a specific doctor received in total from all manufacturers?
Yes. Search the doctor's name and the results will show all payments and transfers of value reported to that doctor across all manufacturers and years. You can sort by amount or date to see patterns. The database also lets you filter by year or manufacturer if you want to narrow the results.
What if a doctor's name is common and I get too many results?
The search results include the doctor's state and specialty, which helps narrow it down. You can also search by the hospital or practice name if you know where the doctor works. If you still get multiple results, look for the one that matches the doctor's location and field.
Do payments to doctors at universities or research hospitals show up differently?
Teaching hospitals are required to report payments made to their physicians, so yes, they appear in the database. Payments to researchers at universities also show up if the manufacturer made the payment directly to the researcher. The record will note the institution.
How long does it take for a payment to show up in the database after it is made?
Manufacturers have until March 31 of the year following the payment to submit their reports. CMS then reviews and publishes the data, usually by fall. So a payment made in January 2024 would typically appear in the database by fall 2024, though some corrections take longer.
Can I report a payment I think should have been reported but was not?
You can contact CMS or the manufacturer directly to report a missing payment, but CMS does not investigate individual complaints. Your best option is to contact the manufacturer and ask them to verify whether the payment was reported. If they say it was not, you can ask them to submit a correction.