Program Year 2019 Data Submission and System Availability

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would like to remind reporting entities of resources available for reference when preparing for the upcoming Program Year 2019 Data Submission.

Please note: the Open Payments system will be unavailable Thursday January 2, 2020 – Sunday January 5, 2020 and Saturday January 11, 2020 – Tuesday January 28, 2020 due to system updates being made for the upcoming data submission.

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Validated Physician List

Preliminary Validated Physician List (VPL)

CMS encourages applicable manufacturers and GPOs to utilize the provided physician list to validate profile information. The VPL is designed to minimize matching errors during data submissions and eliminate any inconsistencies in the data. Use this preliminary version for pre-validation of physician identifying information. The list contains physicians who have previously been reported in the Open Payments system and whom CMS was able to verify using its data sources.

The VPL is provided as a resource and is not an exhaustive list of all reportable physician covered recipients. Physicians that aren’t on the VPL may still be successfully matched; users may consult the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) or other data sources for information on reportable physicians not listed on the VPL.

There are two versions of the VPL, one containing physicians who have a National Provider Identifier (NPI) and one containing physicians who do not have an NPI.

The VPL containing Physicians with NPIs includes:

- Variations of physician first/ last name

- National Provider Identifiers (NPIs)

- State License Numbers

The VPL containing physicians without NPIs includes:

- Variations on physician’s first/ last name

- State License Numbers and associated primary provider types

The VPL zip file also includes a supplement file for each reportable program year that includes inactive licenses for each physician for that corresponding program year.

The VPL Supplement File per Program Year with Inactive Licenses includes:

- Variations of physician first/ last name

- National Provider Identifiers (NPIs)

- State License Numbers and primary type associated with the license

The final version of this list will be released in early 2020 before data submission begins.

Please note: You must be registered in the Open Payments system and affiliated with a reporting entity in order to access and download the VPL and the accompanying instructions document. Access to the VPL will be unavailable during the scheduled system outages.

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Additional Resources

The following additional resources are available on the Open Payments Resources Page

Submission Mapping Document. This document serves as a data dictionary for the three types of reports (General, Research, and Ownership/ Investment Interests) submitted to Open Payments. It also shows the connection between data elements in the data submission specifications to specific data fields in character-separated value (CSV) sample files. Please note that there are two versions of the Submission Mapping document: (1) the reporting requirements for Program Year 2013 through Program Year 2015; and (2) the reporting requirements for Program Year 2016 and onwards.
Sample Submission CSV Files. These files can be used to check formatting of data submitted through bulk file uploads. For research and general payments, there are two sets of sample CSV files: (1) set that is applicable to submissions for Program Year 2013 through Program Year 2015; and (2) set that is applicable to Program Year 2016 and onwards.
Open Payments Physician Taxonomy Code List. This list has all of the accepted physician taxonomy codes and can be used to report physician specialty. If a covered recipient physician’s National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) profile does not contain any of the specialties on the Open Payments Physician Taxonomy Code List, the reporting entity may provide an alternative code from that list.

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December 31, 2019 Deadline Reminder

Corrections to records in response to active disputes can be made through December 31, 2019 in order to be included in the January Data Refresh.

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Questions - Contact the Live Help Desk

For more information about Open Payments, please visit the Open Payments website.

If you have any questions, you can submit an email to the Help Desk at openpayments@cms.hhs.gov. Live Help Desk support is available by calling 1-855-326-8366, (TTY Line: 1-844-649-2766) Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (ET), excluding Federal holidays.