# CMS Open Payments Scraper (Physician Payments) (`scrapers_lat/cms-open-payments-scraper`) Actor
Scrape US CMS Open Payments records of industry payments to physicians and teaching hospitals. Get recipient name, NPI, specialty, paying company, amount, nature of payment, drug or device and program year. Export to JSON, CSV or Excel.
- **URL**: https://apify.com/scrapers\_lat/cms-open-payments-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Scrapers Lat](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet
## Pricing
from $2.00 / 1,000 results
This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.
Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event
## What's an Apify Actor?
Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".
## How to integrate an Actor?
If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.
In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):
```bash
npm install apify-client
```
In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):
```bash
pip install apify-client
```
In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):
````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash
In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).
If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).
For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.
For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).
# README
[](https://console.apify.com/actors/2ExszXoyhA2E7jet0/input)
## CMS Open Payments Scraper (Physician Payments)
> Extract US Open Payments records of drug and device company money paid to physicians, other clinicians and teaching hospitals, with the recipient, paying company, amount, nature of payment and product all in one row
General, Research & Ownership payment types
2019 to 2025 program years
JSON / CSV / Excel output formats
### What you get
Each record is one payment or transfer of value that a drug, biologic or medical device company (or a group purchasing organization) reported making to a physician, non-physician practitioner or teaching hospital. Search by physician name, NPI, paying company, state, program year or nature of payment, then export the full result set.
- **recipientName**: full name of the physician or clinician who received the payment
- **recipientNpi**: the recipient's 10-digit National Provider Identifier
- **recipientType**: physician, non-physician practitioner or teaching hospital
- **recipientFirstName**: recipient first name
- **recipientLastName**: recipient last name
- **recipientSpecialty**: the recipient's medical specialty taxonomy
- **recipientPrimaryType**: primary provider type such as Medical Doctor or Nurse Practitioner
- **teachingHospitalName**: teaching hospital name when the recipient is a hospital
- **recipientCity**: recipient city
- **recipientState**: recipient two-letter state code
- **recipientZip**: recipient ZIP code
- **payingCompany**: the drug or device manufacturer or GPO that made the payment
- **payingCompanyState**: the paying company's state
- **payingCompanyCountry**: the paying company's country
- **submittingCompany**: the company that submitted the record to the program
- **amount**: total amount of the payment in US dollars
- **valueOfInterest**: value of the ownership or investment interest (ownership records)
- **paymentDate**: date of the payment or transfer of value
- **numberOfPayments**: how many payments the total covers
- **natureOfPayment**: the category such as Consulting Fee, Food and Beverage, Travel and Lodging, Honoraria or Research
- **formOfPayment**: the form such as cash, in-kind items and services or stock
- **termsOfInterest**: description of the ownership terms (ownership records)
- **productType**: whether the related product is a drug, biological, device or medical supply
- **productName**: the name of the drug, biologic or device tied to the payment
- **productCategory**: therapeutic area or product category
- **principalInvestigators**: named principal investigators (research records)
- **programYear**: the reporting year of the payment
- **paymentType**: general, research or ownership
- **physicianOwnershipIndicator**: whether the physician holds an ownership interest in the company
- **relatedProductIndicator**: whether the payment is tied to a specific product
- **disputeStatus**: whether the record was disputed for publication
- **paymentPublicationDate**: the date the record was published
- **recordId**: the unique program record identifier
You can pull everyday transfers of value (General payments), payments tied to research studies (Research payments), or physician ownership and investment interests (Ownership payments), for any program year from 2019 through 2025.
### Use cases
- **Pharma and medtech compliance**: monitor and audit the payments your own company or your competitors reported, by product, physician or specialty, and reconcile them against internal records.
- **KOL and physician research**: find which key opinion leaders receive consulting fees, honoraria or research funding, from which companies, and how much, to map influence around a drug or device.
- **Investigative journalism and watchdog work**: quantify industry money flowing to named physicians and hospitals, spot outliers, and back reporting with structured, exportable data.
- **Academic and policy analysis**: build datasets on financial relationships between industry and medicine across states, specialties and years.
- **Due diligence and provider screening**: check the industry payment footprint of a specific physician by NPI before a partnership, hire or investment.
### How to use it
1. Pick a **Payment Type** (General, Research or Ownership) and a **Program Year**.
2. Add any filters you want: **NPI**, physician **first or last name**, **paying company** name (partial match works, for example Pfizer or Medtronic), **recipient state**, or **nature of payment** for General records.
3. Set **Max Items** to the number of records you want.
4. Run the actor and export the results as JSON, CSV or Excel, or pull them through the Apify API.
Leave all filters empty to pull the most recent records for the selected dataset.
### FAQ
**Where does this data come from?**
It comes from the US Open Payments program, the national disclosure system that requires drug and device companies to report payments and transfers of value they make to physicians, other covered clinicians and teaching hospitals. The records are public federal disclosures.
**Can I search by a specific doctor?**
Yes. Enter the physician's 10-digit NPI for an exact match, or use the first and last name filters. Every matching payment for the selected program year is returned.
**Can I find every payment a company made?**
Yes. Enter the company name in the paying company filter. Partial names work, so Stryker or Novartis will match all of that company's reported entities. Combine it with a state or nature of payment to narrow further.
**What is the difference between General, Research and Ownership payments?**
General payments are everyday transfers of value such as consulting fees, meals, travel and gifts. Research payments are tied to a research study or protocol. Ownership payments cover physician ownership and investment interests in a company.
**Which years are available?**
Program years 2019 through 2025 are all supported. Newer years are published each summer.
**How many records can I pull?**
As many as match your filters. Broad searches can contain hundreds of thousands of records, so use the filters and Max Items to keep result sets manageable.
**What formats can I export?**
JSON, CSV and Excel, plus direct access to the dataset through the Apify API.
### Export, API and AI agents (x402 + MCP)
Export the scraped data to **JSON, CSV or Excel**, pull it as a **dataset** through the Apify **API**, or wire it into your app with **no code**. This web scraper and data extractor also works for bulk data extraction and scheduled runs.
For AI agents: this Actor is available on **x402**, Apify's agentic payment standard built with Coinbase. An AI agent can discover, pay for and run it on its own with a funded wallet and a single HTTP request: no account, no subscription, no API key and no human in the loop. It also runs as an **MCP** tool inside Claude, Cursor and other AI clients out of the box. Learn more about [x402 agentic payments on Apify](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/x402).
### Related scrapers
Need data from the same space? Here are other scrapers we build and maintain:
- [NPPES NPI Healthcare Provider Data Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/nppes-npi-scraper): Extract US healthcare provider records from the NPPES NPI Registry with NPI number, name, specialty, license and practice address.
- [USAspending Federal Award Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/usaspending-awards-scraper): Scrape US federal prime awards from USAspending.gov with recipient, UEI, award amount and awarding agency.
- [openFDA Drug Adverse Events Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openfda-drug-events-scraper): Extract FDA drug adverse event reports with drug, reaction, patient outcome and reporting details.
- [openFDA Device Adverse Events Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/openfda-device-events-scraper): Extract FDA medical device adverse event reports with device, manufacturer, event type and outcome.
- [SEC EDGAR Filings Scraper](https://apify.com/scrapers_lat/sec-edgar-filings-scraper): Scrape company filings from SEC EDGAR with form type, filing date, company name and document links.
### More scrapers at scrapers.lat
This actor is built and maintained by [scrapers.lat](https://scrapers.lat), where we publish scrapers for Latin American and US public platforms: real estate, jobs, e-commerce, company registries and government data. Browse the full catalog, see live sample output for each one, or ask us for a custom scraper at [scrapers.lat](https://scrapers.lat).
---
> This actor is an independent tool and has no affiliation with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or the Open Payments program. It accesses only the payment records that CMS publishes as public federal disclosures under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. This data is intentionally public, and individual physician names appear because federal law requires these financial relationships to be disclosed. The records are personal information about real people. Use this data lawfully and responsibly: respect the Open Payments terms of use, applicable privacy and anti-spam laws, and GDPR-style data-protection principles where they apply. Do not use it to harass any physician or for any purpose prohibited by law.
# Actor input Schema
## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):
Maximum number of payment records to collect across all pages. Optional. Add filters below to narrow very large result sets.
## `paymentType` (type: `string`):
Which Open Payments dataset to search. General covers everyday transfers of value (consulting, food, travel, gifts). Research covers payments tied to research studies. Ownership covers physician ownership and investment interests.
## `programYear` (type: `string`):
The calendar year the payments were reported for.
## `npi` (type: `string`):
Filter to a single recipient by their 10-digit National Provider Identifier (NPI). Exact match.
## `physicianFirstName` (type: `string`):
Filter by recipient first name. Exact match, case-insensitive.
## `physicianLastName` (type: `string`):
Filter by recipient last name. Exact match, case-insensitive.
## `companyName` (type: `string`):
Filter by the paying company (drug or device manufacturer or group purchasing organization). Partial match, for example Pfizer, Medtronic, Stryker.
## `state` (type: `string`):
Two-letter US state or territory code of the recipient, for example CA, NY, TX, PR.
## `natureOfPayment` (type: `string`):
Filter General payments by the category of the transfer of value. Applies to General payments only.
## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):
Optional. CMS Open Payments is a public, open data service and does not require a proxy. Leave disabled unless you specifically need to route requests through a proxy.
## Actor input object example
```json
{
"maxItems": 50,
"paymentType": "general",
"programYear": "2024",
"state": "",
"natureOfPayment": "",
"proxyConfiguration": {
"useApifyProxy": false
}
}
````
# Actor output Schema
## `results` (type: `string`):
No description
# API
You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.
## JavaScript example
```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
token: '',
});
// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
"maxItems": 50
};
// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("scrapers_lat/cms-open-payments-scraper").call(input);
// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
console.dir(item);
});
// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs
```
## Python example
```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient
# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("")
# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "maxItems": 50 }
# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("scrapers_lat/cms-open-payments-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)
# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
print(item)
# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start
```
## CLI example
```bash
echo '{
"maxItems": 50
}' |
apify call scrapers_lat/cms-open-payments-scraper --silent --output-dataset
```
## MCP server setup
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"apify": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"mcp-remote",
"https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=scrapers_lat/cms-open-payments-scraper",
"--header",
"Authorization: Bearer "
]
}
}
}
```
## OpenAPI specification
```json
{
"openapi": "3.0.1",
"info": {
"title": "CMS Open Payments Scraper (Physician Payments)",
"description": "Scrape US CMS Open Payments records of industry payments to physicians and teaching hospitals. Get recipient name, NPI, specialty, paying company, amount, nature of payment, drug or device and program year. Export to JSON, CSV or Excel.",
"version": "0.1",
"x-build-id": "lkQVBlun600XXLIxJ"
},
"servers": [
{
"url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
}
],
"paths": {
"/acts/scrapers_lat~cms-open-payments-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-scrapers_lat-cms-open-payments-scraper",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK"
}
}
}
},
"/acts/scrapers_lat~cms-open-payments-scraper/runs": {
"post": {
"operationId": "runs-sync-scrapers_lat-cms-open-payments-scraper",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK",
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
}
}
}
}
}
}
},
"/acts/scrapers_lat~cms-open-payments-scraper/run-sync": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-scrapers_lat-cms-open-payments-scraper",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK"
}
}
}
}
},
"components": {
"schemas": {
"inputSchema": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"maxItems": {
"title": "Max Items",
"minimum": 1,
"maximum": 1000000,
"type": "integer",
"description": "Maximum number of payment records to collect across all pages. Optional. Add filters below to narrow very large result sets."
},
"paymentType": {
"title": "Payment Type",
"enum": [
"general",
"research",
"ownership"
],
"type": "string",
"description": "Which Open Payments dataset to search. General covers everyday transfers of value (consulting, food, travel, gifts). Research covers payments tied to research studies. Ownership covers physician ownership and investment interests.",
"default": "general"
},
"programYear": {
"title": "Program Year",
"enum": [
"2025",
"2024",
"2023",
"2022",
"2021",
"2020",
"2019"
],
"type": "string",
"description": "The calendar year the payments were reported for.",
"default": "2024"
},
"npi": {
"title": "NPI Number",
"type": "string",
"description": "Filter to a single recipient by their 10-digit National Provider Identifier (NPI). Exact match."
},
"physicianFirstName": {
"title": "Physician First Name",
"type": "string",
"description": "Filter by recipient first name. Exact match, case-insensitive."
},
"physicianLastName": {
"title": "Physician Last Name",
"type": "string",
"description": "Filter by recipient last name. Exact match, case-insensitive."
},
"companyName": {
"title": "Paying Company Name",
"type": "string",
"description": "Filter by the paying company (drug or device manufacturer or group purchasing organization). Partial match, for example Pfizer, Medtronic, Stryker."
},
"state": {
"title": "Recipient State",
"enum": [
"",
"AL",
"AK",
"AZ",
"AR",
"CA",
"CO",
"CT",
"DE",
"DC",
"FL",
"GA",
"HI",
"ID",
"IL",
"IN",
"IA",
"KS",
"KY",
"LA",
"ME",
"MD",
"MA",
"MI",
"MN",
"MS",
"MO",
"MT",
"NE",
"NV",
"NH",
"NJ",
"NM",
"NY",
"NC",
"ND",
"OH",
"OK",
"OR",
"PA",
"RI",
"SC",
"SD",
"TN",
"TX",
"UT",
"VT",
"VA",
"WA",
"WV",
"WI",
"WY",
"AS",
"GU",
"MP",
"PR",
"VI"
],
"type": "string",
"description": "Two-letter US state or territory code of the recipient, for example CA, NY, TX, PR.",
"default": ""
},
"natureOfPayment": {
"title": "Nature of Payment",
"enum": [
"",
"Consulting Fee",
"Compensation for services other than consulting, including serving as faculty or as a speaker at a venue other than a continuing education program",
"Compensation for serving as faculty or as a speaker for a medical education program",
"Honoraria",
"Food and Beverage",
"Travel and Lodging",
"Education",
"Gift",
"Entertainment",
"Charitable Contribution",
"Grant",
"Royalty or License",
"Space rental or facility fees (including trade show fees)",
"Debt forgiveness",
"Long term medical supply or device loan",
"Current or prospective ownership or investment interest",
"Acquisitions"
],
"type": "string",
"description": "Filter General payments by the category of the transfer of value. Applies to General payments only.",
"default": ""
},
"proxyConfiguration": {
"title": "Proxy Configuration",
"type": "object",
"description": "Optional. CMS Open Payments is a public, open data service and does not require a proxy. Leave disabled unless you specifically need to route requests through a proxy.",
"default": {
"useApifyProxy": false
}
}
}
},
"runsResponseSchema": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"data": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"id": {
"type": "string"
},
"actId": {
"type": "string"
},
"userId": {
"type": "string"
},
"startedAt": {
"type": "string",
"format": "date-time",
"example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
},
"finishedAt": {
"type": "string",
"format": "date-time",
"example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
},
"status": {
"type": "string",
"example": "READY"
},
"meta": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"origin": {
"type": "string",
"example": "API"
},
"userAgent": {
"type": "string"
}
}
},
"stats": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"inputBodyLen": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 2000
},
"rebootCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"restartCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"resurrectCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"computeUnits": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
},
"options": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"build": {
"type": "string",
"example": "latest"
},
"timeoutSecs": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 300
},
"memoryMbytes": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 1024
},
"diskMbytes": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 2048
}
}
},
"buildId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultDatasetId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultRequestQueueId": {
"type": "string"
},
"buildNumber": {
"type": "string",
"example": "1.0.0"
},
"containerUrl": {
"type": "string"
},
"usage": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 1
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_SERPS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
},
"usageTotalUsd": {
"type": "number",
"example": 0.00005
},
"usageUsd": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
"type": "number",
"example": 0.00005
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_SERPS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
```