Analysis of Open Payments Receipts Among Surgical Faculty at a Large Academic Institution

Fazendin, Jessica; Corey, Britney; Heslin, Martin J.; Chen, Herbert

doi:10.1016/j.jss.2019.08.012

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…This finding aligns with the literature showing that higher paid surgeons have greater academic influence than lesser paid surgeons. 16,18 It is further supported by recent work demonstrating that American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference speakers received higher general payments than the average plastic surgeon. 19 Ruan et al recently demonstrated a payment threshold of $2,000 for funding to be significantly associated with h-indices for all academic plastic surgeons, including microsurgery, craniofacial, hand, esthetic, and burn surgery.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

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Industry Payments and Academic Influence in Reconstructive Microsurgery

Sethi,

Mellia,

Murphy

et al. 2023

J Reconstr Microsurg Open

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Background: Financial relationships between industry and microsurgeons help facilitate innovation but have the potential to bias a surgeon’s academic work. To better understand industry-academic relationships, this study investigated the association between industry payments made to microsurgeons and their academic influence. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of microsurgeons at ACGME-accredited plastic surgery residency programs during the 2020-2021 academic year was performed. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Open Payments Database was used to collect industry payments (research and non-research related) to each surgeon. Academic influence was measured by h-index and number of publications. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were used for statistical analysis. Results: Of the 199 microsurgeons identified, 156 (78.39%) received an industry non-research payment, but 0 (0.0%) received an industry research payment. Surgeons who received any amount of industry payments did not have a higher mean h-index or higher mean number of publications than surgeons with no industry payments. However, surgeons with total industry payments over $10,000 (n=15) had a higher number of publications than surgeons with no industry payments (135.47 vs. 36.02, p=0.0074), $0-$1000 in payments (135.47 vs. 34.37, p=0.0006), and $1,000-$10,000 in payments (135.47 vs. 45.43, p=0.0268). Surgeons with total industry payments over $10,000 also had higher h-indices than surgeons with $0-$1000 in payments (24.4 vs. 10.34, p=0.0039) and $1,000-$10,000 in payments (24.4 vs. 11.34, p=0.0413). Conclusion: Industry funding is associated with higher h-index and higher number of publications for high earners (>$10,000). Private companies may favor these surgeons for their academic expertise.

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Industry Payments and Academic Influence in Reconstructive Microsurgery

Sethi,

Mellia,

Murphy

et al. 2023

J Reconstr Microsurg Open

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“…There have been mixed reports regarding compensation differences based on academic rank. 11 However, a study performed by Cheng et al 12 analyzing industry compensation specifically for vascular surgeons, also did not find a significant compensation difference based on academic rank. In that study, over 1000 vascular surgeons across the United States were characterized via the OPD, and the median pay was found to be $814.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Conflict of Interest Disclosure Among the Highest Earning Physicians Receiving Compensation From Vascular Device Companies

Al-Khouja

Nyam

Sheehan

et al. 2022

The American Surgeon

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Objective To characterize the association between payments made by vascular device companies to clinicians, and the conflict of interest (COI) declarations on relevant publications. Summary Background Data Close association between medical device companies and clinicians is essential in the advancement of surgical technology. When evaluating the efficacy of novel equipment, identification of these relationships can minimize the risk of bias in relevant studies. Methods Using the Open Payments Database (OPD), the 10 highest compensated clinicians from 10 vascular device companies were identified. In the population based bibliometric analysis, general payments, number of payments, h-index, and academic rank were identified. PubMed and Scopus were queried to identify author publications. Relevance to payment received and COI disclosures were identified for each article. Results The physicians identified earned $33,442,266.74 with a median of $92,500 in 2017. The authors published an average of 6.46+/−9.08 articles in 2018. Relevant COI was identified in 74%. In 50.5% of the relevant publications was a COI declared. The median h index of authors was 18+/−23. Community based physicians had a higher rate of COI disclosure (65.6%) compared to academic physicians (47.6%) (P = .008). Low h-index authors had a higher rate of COI declaration (71.4%) compared to high h-index (43.6%) (P = .001). Conclusion A high degree of inconsistency was found between self-declared COI and relevant articles published by the highest compensated physicians. We propose a policy of full disclosure and the addition of a link to each author’s OPD page on all publications to increase access to potential COI.

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“…A more recent study on industry relationships with medical oncologists reported that a small number of them received very substantial payments from pharmaceutical companies while holding major leadership roles within oncology 10 ; similar results were also found among rheumatologists 11 . Orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery received the most payments as reported by Marshall et al 12 ; since then, they have been studied more extensively 13–18 . With more data published, industry payment trends over the years have also been studied.…”

mentioning

confidence: 76%

“…11 Orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery received the most payments as reported by Marshall et al 12 ; since then, they have been studied more extensively. [13][14][15][16][17][18] With more data published, industry payment trends over the years have also been studied. Elsamadicy et al 19 reported a decreasing trend in the total number of payments but an increasing trend in the total amount paid to neurosurgeons based on 5-year data.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Open Payments Data Analysis of General and Fellowship-trained Surgeons Receiving Industry General Payments from 2016 to 2020

et al. 2023

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Objective: To characterize industry nonresearch payments made to general and fellowship-trained surgeons between 2016 and 2020. Background: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Open Payments Data (OPD) reports industry payments made to physicians related to drugs and medical devices. General payments are those not associated with research. Methods: OPD data were queried for general and fellowship-trained surgeons who received general payments from 2016 to 2020. Payments’ nature, amount, company, covered product, and location were collected. Surgeons’ demographics, subspecialty, and leadership roles in hospitals, societies, and editorial boards were evaluated. Results: From 2016 to 2020, 44,700 general and fellowship-trained surgeons were paid $535,425,543 in 1,440,850 general payments. The median payment was $29.18. The most frequent payments were for food and beverage (76.6%) and travel and lodging (15.6%); however, the highest dollar payments were for consulting fees ($93,128,401; 17.4%), education ($88,404,531; 16.5%), royalty or license ($87,471,238; 16.3%), and travel and lodging ($66,333,149; 12.4%). Five companies made half of all payments ($265,654,522; 49.6%): Intuitive Surgical ($128,517,411; 24%), Boston Scientific ($48,094,570; 9%), Edwards Lifesciences ($41,835,544, 7.8%), Medtronic Vascular ($33,607,136; 6.3%), and W. L. Gore & Associates ($16,626,371; 3.1%). Medical devices comprised 74.7% of payments ($399,897,217), followed by drugs and biologicals ($33,945,300; 6.3%). Texas, California, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania received the most payments; however, the top dollar payments were in California ($65,702,579; 12.3%), Michigan ($52,990,904, 9.9%), Texas ($39,362,131; 7.4%), Maryland ($37,611,959; 7%), and Florida ($33,417,093, 6.2%). General surgery received the highest total payments ($245,031,174; 45.8%), followed by thoracic surgery ($167,806,514; 31.3%) and vascular surgery ($60,781,266; 11.4%). A total of 10,361 surgeons were paid >$5000, of which 1614 were women (15.6%); in this group, men received higher payments than women (means, $53,446 vs $22,571; P<0.001) and thoracic surgeons received highest payments (mean, $76,381; NS, P=0.14). A total of 120 surgeons were paid >$500,000 ($203,011,672; 38%)—5 non-Hispanic White (NHW) women (4.2%) and 82 NHW (68.3%), 24 Asian (20%), 7 Hispanic (5.8%), and 2 Black (1.7%) men; in this group, men received higher payments than women (means, $1,735,570 vs $684,224), and NHW men received payments double those of other men (means, $2,049,554 vs $955,368; NS, P=0.087). Among these 120 highly paid surgeons (>$500,000), 55 held hospital and departmental leadership roles, 30 were leaders in surgical societies, 27 authored clinical guidelines, and 16 served on journal editorial boards. During COVID-19, 2020 experienced half the number of payments than the preceding 3 years. Conclusions: General and fellowship-trained surgeons received substantial industry nonresearch payments. The highest-paid recipients were men. Further work is warranted in assessing how race, gender, and leadership roles influence the nature of industry payments and surgical practice. A significant decline in payments was observed early during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Analysis of Open Payments Receipts Among Surgical Faculty at a Large Academic Institution

Cited by 11 publications

References 13 publications

Industry Payments and Academic Influence in Reconstructive Microsurgery

Industry Payments and Academic Influence in Reconstructive Microsurgery

Conflict of Interest Disclosure Among the Highest Earning Physicians Receiving Compensation From Vascular Device Companies

Open Payments Data Analysis of General and Fellowship-trained Surgeons Receiving Industry General Payments from 2016 to 2020

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