Investigating the Gender Pay Gap in Industry Contributions to Academic Neurosurgeons

Ngaage, Ledibabari M.; Harris, Chelsea; Gao, Cynthia; Puthumana, Joseph S.; Crabill, George A.; Baglien, Brigit; Wu, Yinglun; Rosen, Carly; Rada, Erin M.; Groves, Mari L.; Sansur, Charles A.; Rasko, Yvonne M.

doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2019.06.145

Cited by 31 publications

(19 citation statements)

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“…Industry preferentially funds senior surgeons as indicated by career length and academic productivity. This data reflects the established ideology of a threshold effect in which individuals must reach an academic benchmark to qualify for industry funding [9][10][11]. Given the increased competition for funding, an understanding of the selection criteria employed by companies is needed.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 65%

“…Research expertise is reflected by length of research career and scholarly productivity. Indeed, a recent 2019 study in neurosurgery [10] found that sponsorship was more associated with scholarly productivity when surgeons lacked sufficient career experience. This is supported by the lack of co-linearity between these variables.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, research funding has been shown to positively impact scholarly productivity [5][6][7], whereas sponsored speakerships reflect a surgeon's expertise and status as a key opinion leader [8]. However, female academic surgeons face an industry pay gap [9][10][11][12]. Within academic plastic surgery, female surgeons receive fewer industry payments and a lower monetary value per payment compared to their male counterparts [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lower scholarly impact [2,13] and underrepresentation among invited speakers in plastic surgery [14] may augment existing gender disparities in academic promotion and leadership. Industry sponsorship has been shown to be influenced by academic productivity and experience [9][10][11] and the gendered differences in these metrics have been used to explain the observed disparities in industry funding in academic plastic surgery [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the literature demonstrates that the disparities in academic achievement narrow as academic seniority increases [10,15], i.e. women in senior leadership positions or higher academic ranks show similar academic qualifications as their male peers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Follow the money: Investigating gender disparity in industry payments among senior academics and leaders in plastic surgery

et al. 2020

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Introduction Differences in academic qualifications are cited as the reason behind the documented gender gap in industry sponsorship to academic plastic surgeons. Gendered imbalances in academic metrics narrow among senior academic plastic surgeons. However, it is unknown whether this gender parity translates to industry payments. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of industry payments disbursed to plastic surgeons in 2018. Inclusion criteria encompassed (i) faculty with the rank of professor or a departmental leadership position. Exclusion criteria included faculty (i) who belonged to a speciality besides plastic surgery; (ii) whose gender could not be determined; or (iii) whose name could not be located on the Open Payment Database. Faculty and title were identified using departmental listings of ACGME plastic surgery residency programs. We extracted industry payment data through the Open Payment Database. We also collected details on H-index and time in practice. Statistical analysis included odds ratios (OR) and Pearson’s correlation coefficient (R). Results We identified 316 senior academic plastic surgeons. The cohort was predominately male (88%) and 91% held a leadership role. Among departmental leaders, women were more likely to be an assistant professor (OR 3.9, p = 0.0003) and heads of subdivision (OR 2.1, p = 0.0382) than men. Industry payments were distributed equally to male and female senior plastic surgeons except for speakerships where women received smaller amounts compared to their male counterparts (median payments of $3,675 vs $7,134 for women and men respectively, p<0.0001). Career length and H-index were positively associated with dollar value of total industry payments (R = 0.17, p = 0.0291, and R = 0.14, p = 0.0405, respectively). Conclusion Disparity in industry funding narrows at senior levels in academic plastic surgery. At higher academic levels, industry sponsorship may preferentially fund individuals based on academic productivity and career length. Increased transparency in selection criteria for speakerships is warranted.

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Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 65%

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Follow the money: Investigating gender disparity in industry payments among senior academics and leaders in plastic surgery

et al. 2020

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The Importance of Representation and Gender Valuation in the Field of Neurological Surgery

Narvaez,

Wolfe,

Freischlag

2024

JAMA Surg

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The article by Oshinowo et al 1 provides unexpected and striking insight into gender disparities in clinical practice patterns and Medicare reimbursement, which requires a heightened awareness of gender differences in unanticipated aspects of surgical practice with implications across surgical specialties. Understanding the impact of gender disparities is essential to creating approaches to advocate for women surgeon populations, as patients benefit from a diverse physician population. 2 Despite efforts to enhance the representation of women in neurosurgery, it remains an ongoing challenge. Of 6052 neurosurgeons billing Medicare, 512 were female (8.46%), with an increase from 268 to 408 from 2013 through 2020. 1 This increase mirrors the slowly increasing trend of women matching into neurosurgery residency, now over 20% of incoming neurosurgical interns.Using Medicare data across practice settings, this study 1 demonstrated patterns of significant disparity in procedural volume and payments. Female neurosurgeons submitted a staggering 48.32% less in annual Medicare charges, a difference which persisted after controlling for volume, experience, and service type. 1 Males performed more highreimbursement services. Female neurosurgeons submitted and were paid significantly less per service. This may represent divergence in billing and coding practices among men and women, also seen among operative coding in plastic surgeons, with women using fewer codes per case. 1 Women may be less likely to use codes that reflect greater complexity, technical difficulty, or work intensity.

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The impact of a virtual negotiation training course on female trainees

Chagpar

2023

The American Journal of Surgery

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Investigating the Gender Pay Gap in Industry Contributions to Academic Neurosurgeons

Cited by 31 publications

References 20 publications

Follow the money: Investigating gender disparity in industry payments among senior academics and leaders in plastic surgery

Follow the money: Investigating gender disparity in industry payments among senior academics and leaders in plastic surgery

The Importance of Representation and Gender Valuation in the Field of Neurological Surgery

The impact of a virtual negotiation training course on female trainees

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