BASIS OF PRESENTATION	3 Months Ended
BASIS OF PRESENTATION	Mar. 31, 2015
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Basis Of Presentation [Text Block]	BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (which may be referred to as Bristol-Myers Squibb, BMS or the Company) prepared these unaudited consolidated financial statements following the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and United States (U.S.) generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for interim reporting. Under those rules, certain footnotes and other financial information that are normally required for annual financial statements can be condensed or omitted. The Company is responsible for the consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-Q. These consolidated financial statements include all normal and recurring adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of the financial position at March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, and the results of operations and cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated. These unaudited consolidated financial statements and the related notes should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2014 included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K (2014 Form 10-K). Revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities can vary during each quarter of the year. Accordingly, the results and trends in these unaudited consolidated financial statements may not be indicative of full year operating results. The preparation of financial statements requires the use of management estimates and assumptions. The most significant assumptions are employed in estimates used in determining the fair value and potential impairment of intangible assets; sales rebate and return accruals; legal contingencies; income taxes; estimated selling prices used in multiple element arrangements; and pension and postretirement benefits. Actual results may differ from estimated results. Certain prior period amounts were reclassified to conform to the current period presentation. Pension settlements and amortization previously presented in Other in the consolidated statements of cash flows are now presented separately. In April 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued amended guidance on the use and presentation of discontinued operations in an entity's consolidated financial statements. The new guidance restricts the presentation of discontinued operations to business circumstances when the disposal of business operations represents a strategic shift that has or will have a major effect on an entity's operations and financial results. The guidance became effective on January 1, 2015. In May 2014, the FASB issued a new standard related to revenue recognition, which requires an entity to recognize the amount of revenue to which it expects to be entitled for the transfer of promised goods or services to customers. The new standard will replace most of the existing revenue recognition standards in U.S. GAAP when it becomes effective on January 1, 2017. Early adoption is not permitted. The new standard can be applied retrospectively to each prior reporting period presented or retrospectively with the cumulative effect of the change recognized at the date of the initial application in retained earnings. The Company is assessing the potential impact of the new standard on financial reporting and has not yet selected a transition method.

The entire disclosure for the organization, consolidation and basis of presentation of financial statements disclosure, and significant accounting policies of the reporting entity. May be provided in more than one note to the financial statements, as long as users are provided with an understanding of (1) the significant judgments and assumptions made by an enterprise in determining whether it must consolidate a VIE and/or disclose information about its involvement with a VIE, (2) the nature of restrictions on a consolidated VIE's assets reported by an enterprise in its statement of financial position, including the carrying amounts of such assets, (3) the nature of, and changes in, the risks associated with an enterprise's involvement with the VIE, and (4) how an enterprise's involvement with the VIE affects the enterprise's financial position, financial performance, and cash flows. Describes procedure if disclosures are provided in more than one note to the financial statements.

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