Guides to the Open Payments record

Check if your doctor gets paid by drug companies

Look up any U.S. doctor in the federal Open Payments record in under a minute: what to search, how to find the right person, and how to read what you see.

What is Open Payments?

Open Payments is the federal database of money that drug and device companies report paying to doctors and teaching hospitals. What it is, where it came from, and what is in it.

General vs research vs ownership

Open Payments splits money into three kinds that follow different rules. What each one covers, and why they should never be added together.

Does a payment mean wrongdoing?

A listing in Open Payments is not an accusation. Why these payments are legal and common, what they can and cannot tell you, and how to read them fairly.

What counts as a payment?

The categories drug and device companies must report — from food and beverage to consulting, speaking, royalties and travel — and the things they do not have to report.

Dispute an Open Payments record

A step-by-step guide for doctors and clinicians who want to check what companies reported about them, and how to dispute a record that is wrong.

Which companies pay doctors the most?

The companies that reported the largest general payments to U.S. doctors and teaching hospitals in the latest program year, taken from the federal Open Payments record.

How much do companies pay doctors?

The yearly totals drug and medical device companies report paying U.S. doctors and teaching hospitals — general payments, research funding and ownership interests — from Open Payments.

When is the data published?

How the Open Payments calendar works: what a program year is, when companies report, when doctors can review, and when CMS publishes and refreshes the data.

Talk to your doctor about payments

A calm, practical guide for patients who found their doctor in Open Payments: what the record means, what is worth asking, and how to ask it respectfully.