Comparing Payments to Surgeons From Drug and Medical Device Corporations Reveals Inequalities Between Genders and Specialties.
Am Surg
; 89(7): 3131-3135, 2023 Jul.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36852997
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Maintaining trust in the patient-doctor relationship requires transparency in the details of the financial relationships between physicians and drug and medical device corporations. These details are publicly available through the Open Payments database, and patients are encouraged to ask surgeons to interpret their implications. The purpose of this study was to better equip surgeons in responding to these inquiries and to compare the distribution of these payments by gender and specialty.METHODS:
The 2021 Open Payments dataset was searched for all payments to surgeons from the 14 different specialties recognized by the American College of Surgeons. The total payments per surgeon were compared by calculating the mean and median payments. The Gini index, a measure of income inequality, was also calculated for each specialty.RESULTS:
There were 96 724 surgeons who received over $755 million in payments from drug and medical device companies. There were 72 245 (74.7%) men and 24 479 (25.3%) women. The total amount of payments to men was $712 million (94.2%) and for women it was $44 million (5.8%). The overall Gini index was .9508. The specialty with the highest Gini index was pediatric surgery (.9844) and the lowest was cardiothoracic surgery (.8656).DISCUSSION:
Male surgeons received disproportionately higher payments from drug and device corporations than female surgeons. Surgeons should be aware of their own standing within the Open Payments database in order to respond appropriately to patient inquiries.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Especialidades Quirúrgicas
/
Cirujanos
/
Medicina
Aspecto:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
/
Equity_inequality
Límite:
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
País/Región como asunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Am Surg
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos