CMS Open Payments · Program Year 2024
Washington
Washington received $59,137,876.09 in pharmaceutical-industry payments to 11,796 physicians and 24 teaching hospitals across 151,363 transactions.
- $59.1M
- Total payments
- $38.9M
- To physicians
- $17.1M
- To teaching hospitals
- #18
- of 59 states
In CMS Open Payments Program Year 2024, pharmaceutical and medical-device companies reported $59.1M in payments to 11,796 physicians and 24 teaching hospitals in Washington. That ranks Washington #18 of 59 states and territories (0.4% of the US total), averaging $3.3K per physician. Figures are company-reported under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act; a reported payment is a financial relationship, not evidence of wrongdoing.
The verdict
Washington pairs above-median payment volume with a physician-heavy payment mix.
- #18
- of 59 states
- 0.4%
- of the national total
- 65.8%
- to physicians vs. hospitals
- 11,796
- physicians paid
What the Data Shows for Washington
Washington's Open Payments file is hospital-weighted: 28.9% of $59.1M went to 24 teaching hospitals ($712.9K each), with 65.8% on 11,796 physicians.
On the national dollar ranking it is still #18 of 59 (0.4% of US payments). Average transaction $390.70. Leading nature of payment: "Royalty or License" at $16.8M (28.5% of the state file; top-three natures 71.1%).
Washington sits in the 71st percentile (mid-pack). Just above: Colorado ($63.4M). Just below: Maryland ($54.7M). For context: top-ranked California ($342.4M) is 5.8× larger than Washington. CMS Sunshine Act framework and methodology.
Physician vs Hospital Payments
How pharmaceutical payments in Washington are distributed between physicians and teaching hospitals.
Physician Payments
$38.9M
65.8% of total · 11,796 recipients · $3.3K avg
Teaching Hospital Payments
$17.1M
28.9% of total · 24 hospitals · $712.9K avg
Payment Breakdown by Type
Washington has 16 types of pharmaceutical payments. "Royalty or License" accounts for 28.5%.
Nature concentration in Washington
Top three Open Payments natures are 71.1% of state dollars; residual is every other reported nature
Payment categories in Washington
Top categories by total reported dollar volume
| Payment Type | Amount | Transactions | % of State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royalty or License | $16.8M | 419 | 28.5% |
| Consulting Fee | $13.4M | 3,472 | 22.6% |
| Compensation for Services Other Than Consulting | $11.8M | 4,678 | 20.0% |
| Grant | $4.6M | 178 | 7.7% |
| Food and Beverage | $4.5M | 125,469 | 7.6% |
| Travel and Lodging | $4.0M | 12,067 | 6.8% |
| Education | $1.6M | 3,029 | 2.7% |
| Honoraria | $685.7K | 240 | 1.2% |
| Long-Term Medical Supply or Device Loan | $515.4K | 364 | 0.9% |
| Compensation for Faculty or Speaker (Medical Education) | $511.3K | 294 | 0.9% |
| Space Rental or Facility Fees | $295.3K | 94 | 0.5% |
| Debt Forgiveness | $181.9K | 124 | 0.3% |
| Gift | $107.2K | 818 | 0.2% |
| Acquisitions | $96.2K | 7 | 0.2% |
| Charitable Contribution | $27.0K | 6 | 0.0% |
| Entertainment | $19.3K | 104 | 0.0% |
Read with this Washington Open Payments read
Volume neighbors, physician-share peers, and the national nature catalog, not the same three guides on every state page.
- Next higher total: Colorado ($63.4M)
- Next lower total: Maryland ($54.7M)
- Nearest physician-share mix: Alaska (67.9% to physicians)
- Nearest physician-share mix: Arkansas (68.1% to physicians)
- Nearest physician-share mix: Delaware (68.5% to physicians)
- National catalog for leading nature here: Royalty or License (28.5% of Washington)
- State payment rankings (includes Washington at #18)
- How Open Payments natures are defined
Data Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments, Program Year 2024. Data includes general payments, research payments, and physician ownership/investment interests as required by the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Total industry payments: $13.9B across 1,925 companies.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Source: CMS Open Payments Database Industry payments to physicians and teaching hospitals · 2024
What Washington totals can and cannot tell you
The aggregate payment figure for Washington measures reportable industry–physician engagement inside this state's geographic footprint for Program Year 2024, not any one physician's or hospital's relationship with industry. CMS collects the data under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act; manufacturers must report transfers of value above the de minimis threshold. The file does not capture DTC advertising, internal R&D, wholesale drug pricing, or salary support that is not a reportable transfer of value.
Correlations between payment receipt and prescribing appear in peer-reviewed work for specific drugs and specialties, but this page's state total does not establish causation. Open the company and recipient detail pages for category and year-over-year cuts.
Every figure on PlainPharmaWatch is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-07-26.