Open Payments (Sunshine Act) — Methodology
How Grand Rapids Care uses CMS Open Payments data on reported industry financial relationships — and why it does not, by itself, prove anything about quality or conduct.
Open Payments figures come from the CMS Open Payments program (the Physician Payments Sunshine Act), published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (U.S. Government, public domain).
What source is used
The annual CMS Open Payments datasets of payments and transfers of value that drug and device companies report to physicians and teaching hospitals.
What data is imported
Aggregate, public figures keyed to a provider’s NPI:
- Reported payment totals by year and by category (general payments, research payments, and ownership/investment interests).
- Reporting company names and aggregate amounts.
We store aggregate reported figures — not patient data and not clinical records.
How often it is refreshed
CMS publishes Open Payments annually (with periodic updates). We import on a recurring schedule; each view shows the data year and import date.
How records are matched
Open Payments is shown for a provider only when that provider has an approved, exact NPI match in our entity-matching process. We do not use fuzzy matching to attribute payments publicly — the NPI must match exactly and be human-approved.
What confidence means
Because public attribution requires an exact NPI link, confidence here is about identity certainty (this NPI is this provider). It says nothing about the nature, purpose, or appropriateness of any payment.
What the data can and cannot prove
- Can: show financial relationships that industry reported, in context of year, category, and company.
- Cannot: Open Payments data does not prove wrongdoing, bias, clinical quality, or conflict of interest by itself. Many relationships are routine and beneficial (e.g., research, education, speaking). Data should be interpreted in context.
Limitations
Reported figures depend on company reporting and can contain errors or disputes. Categories are broad. Absence of payments does not imply anything either way.
Report a data issue
Disputes about the underlying figures are handled by CMS through the official Open Payments review-and-dispute process. If we have mis-attributed a record to the wrong provider, please contact us and we will review the match; we never alter the official source.
Sources
- CMS Open Payments — https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/
- About the data & dispute process — https://www.cms.gov/openpayments
Related policies
In an emergency, call 911. This site provides general health information and is not medical advice.