This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the scale and trends of industry-sponsored research payments to gastroenterologists and hepatologists in the United States from 2014 to 2021.
MethodsUsing the Open Payments Database and the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), the study analyzed both grant and research payments made to individual gastroenterologists and associated payments made for research where gastroenterologists and hepatologists served as principal investigators.
ResultsAfter adjusting for inflation, the study found that a total of $1.5 billion was allocated to gastroenterologists by 284 companies during this period. Only 15.9% of the 20,986 gastroenterologists received at least one research payment, with associated research payments accounting for 97.6% of all payments. The study also revealed a significant increase in the number of gastroenterologists receiving associated research payments and a more than twofold increase in payments for registered clinical trials from 2014 to 2021.
ConclusionThe healthcare industry allocated large amounts of research funding to gastroenterologists and hepatologists. The study underscores the critical role of industry-sponsored clinical trials in advancing gastroenterological research and treatments.Categories: Gastroenterology, Public Health Keywords: clinical research education, financial conflicts of interest, conflicts of interest, united states of america, united states, sunshine act, physician payment sunshine act, open payments database, industry payment, research payment