Data Analysis
Largest Pharmaceutical and Device Company Payments in North Carolina
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 North Carolina. The top 25 companies collectively paid $247,122,353 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 North Carolina Providers
CMS Open Payments| # | Company | Total Payments | Doctors Paid | Total Transactions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DePuy Synthes Products, Inc. | $38,146,825 | 36 | 1,036 |
| 2 | Stryker Corporation | $28,360,969 | 2,007 | 17,224 |
| 3 | NuVasive, Inc. | $16,463,383 | 191 | 4,169 |
| 4 | Cook Incorporated | $13,914,419 | 83 | 394 |
| 5 | ABBVIE INC. | $11,743,957 | 11,751 | 157,857 |
| 6 | Asklepios Biopharmaceutical Inc. | $10,156,498 | 2 | 4 |
| 7 | AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP | $10,075,445 | 10,210 | 104,663 |
| 8 | Medtronic, Inc. | $8,815,917 | 5,664 | 39,311 |
| 9 | Amgen Inc. | $8,800,644 | 9,271 | 95,593 |
| 10 | Novo Nordisk Inc | $8,557,675 | 9,684 | 137,384 |
| 11 | Lilly USA, LLC | $7,911,296 | 8,252 | 88,396 |
| 12 | Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. | $7,319,068 | 1,628 | 8,760 |
| 13 | Boston Scientific Corporation | $7,092,624 | 5,304 | 40,163 |
| 14 | DePuy Synthes Products LLC | $6,684,217 | 17 | 217 |
| 15 | Globus Medical, Inc. | $6,594,260 | 343 | 4,226 |
| 16 | PFIZER INC. | $6,545,804 | 11,845 | 104,651 |
| 17 | Smith+Nephew, Inc. | $6,515,744 | 1,930 | 11,733 |
| 18 | Intuitive Surgical, Inc. | $6,442,989 | 956 | 13,150 |
| 19 | Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc | $5,800,005 | 7,723 | 68,123 |
| 20 | E.R. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | $5,440,322 | 4,888 | 34,678 |
| 21 | GENZYME CORPORATION | $5,313,924 | 3,040 | 24,657 |
| 22 | AbbVie Inc. | $5,246,101 | 7,088 | 65,479 |
| 23 | Abbott Laboratories | $5,154,626 | 6,344 | 47,935 |
| 24 | GlaxoSmithKline, LLC. | $5,027,219 | 6,933 | 61,608 |
| 25 | Wright Medical Technology, Inc. | $4,998,422 | 162 | 1,687 |
State payment context — North Carolina
CMS Open PaymentsAcross 51,950 North Carolina providers with at least one disclosed industry payment over 2018–2024, the median provider received $333 in total payments, compared with a national median of $339 across 1,571,086 paid providers.
North Carolina accounts for 3.2% 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 — North Carolina
| Specialty | Median per provider | Providers paid | Total payments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult Reconstructive Orthopaedic Surgery Physician | $15,069 | 30 | $35,851,438 |
| Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine Physician | $14,181 | 37 | $5,000,275 |
| Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Physician | $12,239 | 35 | $1,360,806 |
| Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician | $4,738 | 40 | $1,327,183 |
| Interventional Cardiology | $4,668 | 82 | $2,598,042 |
Industry payments in North Carolina by year
| Year | Total payments | Providers paid | Transactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | $73,812,642 | 18,359 | 343,817 |
| 2019 | $78,821,910 | 18,331 | 326,884 |
| 2020 | $50,928,705 | 14,377 | 171,803 |
| 2021 | $67,122,547 | 25,785 | 408,240 |
| 2022 | $76,699,881 | 29,190 | 474,366 |
| 2023 | $87,724,108 | 31,308 | 520,130 |
| 2024 | $88,044,650 | 32,762 | 534,543 |
Methodology
Company payment totals aggregated from CMS Open Payments records for providers licensed in North Carolina. 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.