The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its latest Open Payments data, open data on $7.52 billion worth of transactions between pharmaceutical and medical supply manufacturers and health-care providers made during 2015. With Open Payments data, researchers, journalists, and civil society groups can analyze the financial relationships between industry and health care, such as gifts, speaking fees, and charitable contributions, to identify potentially fraudulent or abusive spending and identify opportunities to improve the health-care system.This is the second year CMS has published a full year’s worth of Open Payments data, meaning members of the public can better analyze changing trends in the health-care industry. For example, in 2015, there was a noticeable decline in honoraria and gifts from industry and an increase in charitable contributions.
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