Data Analysis
Largest Pharmaceutical and Device Company Payments in California
The CMS Open Payments program requires pharmaceutical and medical device companies to disclose payments made to physicians and teaching hospitals. This analysis ranks the top companies by total payments made to providers in California. The top 25 companies collectively paid $1,080,676,771 to healthcare providers in this state.
Context: Industry payments to physicians are legally required to be disclosed under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act.
Receiving payments does not imply wrongdoing. Payments may reflect consulting expertise, research participation, or speaking engagements.
This data is provided to support transparency, not to render clinical judgments.
Top Companies by Total Payments to California Providers
CMS Open Payments| # | Company | Total Payments | Doctors Paid | Total Transactions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PFIZER INC. | $138,678,457 | 25,906 | 239,544 |
| 2 | Arthrex, Inc. | $89,816,959 | 1,139 | 25,397 |
| 3 | DePuy Synthes Products, Inc. | $82,856,505 | 105 | 1,664 |
| 4 | Allergan, Inc. | $74,424,832 | 11,102 | 87,073 |
| 5 | Stryker Corporation | $68,230,221 | 8,132 | 78,771 |
| 6 | ABBVIE INC. | $60,043,996 | 28,729 | 352,946 |
| 7 | Allergan Inc. | $52,893,932 | 12,954 | 92,655 |
| 8 | Medtronic, Inc. | $47,686,135 | 13,354 | 114,482 |
| 9 | Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. | $46,017,124 | 5,599 | 34,968 |
| 10 | AbbVie Inc. | $45,113,869 | 17,642 | 168,481 |
| 11 | Medtronic MiniMed, Inc. | $39,373,751 | 777 | 3,307 |
| 12 | AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP | $36,895,775 | 22,623 | 260,243 |
| 13 | Smith+Nephew, Inc. | $34,555,114 | 5,146 | 39,159 |
| 14 | Intuitive Surgical, Inc. | $30,919,212 | 4,096 | 52,036 |
| 15 | Amgen Inc. | $27,074,582 | 22,035 | 272,895 |
| 16 | Boston Scientific Corporation | $26,021,324 | 15,278 | 113,143 |
| 17 | Lilly USA, LLC | $24,380,727 | 18,982 | 195,456 |
| 18 | Abbott Laboratories | $24,163,972 | 14,594 | 147,307 |
| 19 | Dentsply Sirona Inc | $21,683,911 | 8,376 | 25,954 |
| 20 | Gilead Sciences, Inc. | $19,572,177 | 10,268 | 96,680 |
| 21 | Walk Vascular, LLC | $19,171,929 | 26 | 47 |
| 22 | GENZYME CORPORATION | $18,768,390 | 9,077 | 70,447 |
| 23 | GlaxoSmithKline, LLC. | $18,208,063 | 20,696 | 187,960 |
| 24 | NuVasive, Inc. | $17,821,677 | 788 | 15,327 |
| 25 | Novo Nordisk Inc | $16,304,137 | 17,784 | 201,691 |
State payment context — California
CMS Open PaymentsAcross 160,322 California providers with at least one disclosed industry payment over 2018–2024, the median provider received $327 in total payments, compared with a national median of $339 across 1,571,086 paid providers.
California accounts for 13.7% of the $16,205,257,917 in industry payments recorded nationwide in this database, and its per-provider median runs below the national benchmark.
Top specialties by median industry payment — California
| Specialty | Median per provider | Providers paid | Total payments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Physician | $19,351 | 126 | $7,634,654 |
| Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine Physician | $12,955 | 222 | $106,580,194 |
| Adult Reconstructive Orthopaedic Surgery Physician | $8,868 | 127 | $23,118,495 |
| Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery (Urology) Physician | $8,535 | 25 | $675,211 |
| Orthopaedic Trauma Physician | $8,287 | 84 | $7,466,740 |
Industry payments in California by year
| Year | Total payments | Providers paid | Transactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | $285,514,170 | 69,469 | 1,100,445 |
| 2019 | $305,060,781 | 68,299 | 1,088,151 |
| 2020 | $249,677,852 | 53,317 | 606,309 |
| 2021 | $297,618,483 | 72,397 | 1,041,010 |
| 2022 | $460,782,116 | 82,089 | 1,182,066 |
| 2023 | $321,590,087 | 87,851 | 1,273,438 |
| 2024 | $301,134,380 | 93,710 | 1,368,375 |
Methodology
Company payment totals aggregated from CMS Open Payments records for providers licensed in California. Includes all payment categories (research, consulting, speaking, meals, travel, and other). Rankings reflect cumulative payments across all available years, not annualized figures. Data source: CMS Open Payments, accessed via doctransparency.com database.