Open payments database general payments analysis to nurse practitioners from 2021 to 2022

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Open Payments Database (OPD) reports industry payments to health care providers, promoting transparency in financial relationships. In 2021, the OPD expanded to include nurse practitioners (NPs), who now number over 385,000 in the United States.

This study analyzed general industry payments to NPs from 2021 to 2022, focusing on payment nature, amounts, companies involved, and geographic distribution.

We queried the OPD for NPs identified as "Nurse Practitioner" under relevant taxonomy categories, analyzing data on payment nature, amount, company, covered product, and recipient location. Descriptive statistics summarized the data.

Between 2021 and 2022, 207,732, US NPs received $182,275,340 in 4,866,831 general payments. The median payment was $16.47. Most payments were for food and beverage (97%), which accounted for the highest dollar total ($102,218,684; 56%). Other payments included services other than consulting ($48,325,438; 27%) and travel/lodging ($11,478,596; 6%). Five companies-AbbVie, Allergan, Janssen, Novo Nordisk, and AstraZeneca-accounted for 32.6% of payments. Florida, Texas, and California received the highest payments.

Nurse practitioners received substantial nonresearch payments, predominantly for food and beverage. Future research should explore factors like certification area and state practice authority that influence payment trends.

Understanding industry payments to NP highlights areas of potential influence, emphasizing the importance of transparency and policies to mitigate conflicts of interest.