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Open Payments

About the Open Payments Program

Under federal law, drug and medical device manufacturers are required to report their financial interactions with licensed physicians – including consulting fees, travel reimbursements, research grants and other gifts. Any payments, ownership interests and other “transfers of value” are reported to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for publication in the public Open Payments database.

Open Payments data includes payments and other transfers of value, along with ownership and investment interests held by physicians or their immediate family members in the reporting entities. Payments are reported across three major reporting categories:

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

Physician Obligations

Review Your Data

Open Payments data is published annually, and physicians are able to preview the data attributed to them during a 45-day, pre-publication review and dispute period. Physicians are encouraged to review the data attributed to them during the review period. If a physician believes their data contain discrepancies, they can initiate a dispute with the reporting entity. This gives the reporting entity an opportunity to correct the information before the data is made public. Disputes can be initiated until the end of the calendar year in which the record was submitted, but disputes initiated after the end of the review and dispute period will not be reflected in the initial publication. 

Notify Patients

A California law that took effect January 1, 2023, requires California physicians to provide written or electronic notice of the Open Payments database to patients at the initial office visit. It also requires physicians to post in their offices and on their websites a notice informing visitors about the Open Payments database.

AB 1278 Notification Requirements

AB 1278 requires physicians to do the following beginning January 1, 2023:

1) At the initial office visit with their patient, a physician must provide either a written or electronic notice of the Database that includes the following text:

“The Open Payments database is a federal tool used to search payments made by drug and device companies to physicians and teaching hospitals. It can be found at openpaymentsdata.cms.gov.”

  • If physicians use electronic health records systems, they must include a record of this notice in the patient’s records.
  • If the physician uses a paper-based records system, then the written notice to the patient must include a signature from the patient (or their representative) and a date of signature. Further, a copy of the written notice must be provided to the patient (or their representative) and included in the patient's records. 

2) Post a notice regarding the database at each location where the physician practices, in an area likely to be seen by all persons. That notice must include a link to the database and the following text:

“For informational purposes only, a link to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments web page is provided here. The federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires that detailed information about payment and other payments of value worth over ten dollars ($10) from manufacturers of drugs, medical devices, and biologics to physicians and teaching hospitals be made available to the public.”

If a physician is employed by a health care employer, that employer is responsible for meeting this requirement.

Beginning January 1, 2024, a physician who uses a website in their medical practice must conspicuously post the same notice described above in 2) on their website. If a physician is employed by a health care employer, that employer is responsible for meeting this requirement.

The requirements created by this law do not apply to a physician working in a hospital emergency room.

For additional information, please see the text of AB 1278.