# CMS Open Payments Scraper - Physician Payments (`thirdwatch/cms-open-payments-scraper`) Actor

Export official CMS Open Payments records for general, research, and ownership payments with recipient, manufacturer, amount, date, specialty, and product fields.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/thirdwatch/cms-open-payments-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Thirdwatch](https://apify.com/thirdwatch) (community)
- **Categories:** Other, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 0.0% 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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## CMS Open Payments Scraper

Export official U.S. CMS Open Payments general, research, and ownership records. The Actor resolves the matching current dataset from the CMS data catalog, queries first-party JSON, and normalizes high-value professional and payment fields.

### What you get

- General, research, or ownership payment records for a selected program year
- Recipient identifiers and names, submitting organization, amount, date, nature, and product context
- Current dataset resolution from CMS catalog metadata instead of a brittle fixed resource ID
- Data-minimized output that deliberately omits recipient street addresses

### Output fields

Typical fields include `record_id`, `payment_type`, `program_year`, `covered_recipient_npi`, recipient name and specialty, submitting organization, `total_amount_of_payment_usdollars`, `date_of_payment`, payment nature, product fields, dispute status, `source_url`, and `source`.

### Example output

```json
{"record_id":"10001","payment_type":"general","program_year":2025,"covered_recipient_npi":"1234567890","covered_recipient_first_name":"Alex","covered_recipient_last_name":"Morgan","total_amount_of_payment_usdollars":"125.00","date_of_payment":"2025-03-04","source_url":"https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov"}
```

### Input parameters

| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| `paymentType` | Select `general`, `research`, or `ownership`. |
| `year` | CMS Open Payments program year. |
| `offset` | Number of matching source rows to skip. |
| `maxResults` | Maximum payment records saved and charged. |

### Use cases

Healthcare transparency dashboards, payment-category analysis, research-funding review, manufacturer and recipient analysis, annual archives, newsroom investigations, and CMS release monitoring.

### Limitations

Open Payments records are disclosures, not findings of misconduct. Dataset names and schemas can change by release. Payment families have different meanings and should not be summed without context. The Actor omits street-address fields and does not profile, score, or make allegations about recipients.

### Compared to alternatives

Dynamic CMS catalog resolution keeps the integration current while the direct API avoids browser and proxy costs. Pricing starts at $2 per 1,000 saved records and declines to $1 per 1,000. Try the [CMS Open Payments Scraper](https://apify.com/thirdwatch/cms-open-payments-scraper), browse [all Thirdwatch Actors](https://apify.com/thirdwatch), or read the [Thirdwatch CMS guide](https://thirdwatch.dev/actors/cms-open-payments-scraper).

### FAQ

**Does this use the official CMS source?** Yes. It resolves and queries CMS-published catalog resources.

**Why are addresses excluded?** They are unnecessary for the supported transparency analyses and omitting them reduces privacy exposure.

Open the [input form](https://apify.com/thirdwatch/cms-open-payments-scraper?tab=input) or review [recent runs](https://apify.com/thirdwatch/cms-open-payments-scraper?tab=runs).

Confirm material conclusions against the official record and appropriate expertise. This independent Actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by CMS.

Last verified: 2026-07

# Actor input Schema

## `paymentType` (type: `string`):

General, research, or ownership payment records.

## `year` (type: `integer`):

CMS Open Payments program year.

## `offset` (type: `integer`):

Number of matching source rows to skip.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of payment records to save and charge.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "paymentType": "general",
  "year": 2025,
  "offset": 0,
  "maxResults": 10
}
```

# 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("thirdwatch/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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("thirdwatch/cms-open-payments-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call thirdwatch/cms-open-payments-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,thirdwatch/cms-open-payments-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/7apfjqUd30B6SCLDj/builds/aJiIfS14xLgM3oEvE/openapi.json