Special articleDisclosure of Industry Payments to Physicians: An Epidemiologic Analysis of Early Data From the Open Payments Program
Section snippets
Methods
The Open Payments database allows for physician-level industry payment calculations and aggregation for analysis of broader characteristics by specialty. We performed a retrospective analysis of the most recent (December 2014) publicly available release of Open Payments data on industry payments (>$10 or $100 in aggregate annually) to identified physicians made between August 1, 2013, and December 31, 2013. The CMS excludes resident and manufacturer employee physicians. The data released also
Results
From August 1, 2013, through December 31, 2013, there were 4.4 million payments totaling $2.6 billion reported to Open Payments, with 2.7 million of these payments ($869 million) disclosed in an identified manner. General payments represented 4.2 million of all payments ($1.0 billion) and 2.7 million of the identified payments ($693 million). Recipient physicians received 4.2 million of all general payments ($761 million), and identified recipient physicians received 2.6 million payments
Discussion
This analysis of an unprecedented volume of physician-specific data on industry-related financial conflicts of interest shows wide variability in the prevalence and characteristics of industry payments to physicians by specialty. Although important analyses of Open Payments manufacturer and product data exist,19, 20 little attention has been given to characteristics of physician data. A report by Jarvies et al20 gave an initial account of the first release of Open Payments data in September
Conclusion
This analysis provides important insights into the specialty differences in industry-related conflicts of interest as the nation's physician workforce enters an era of transparency for industry-physician relationships. These data can inform transparency policymaking and advocacy efforts by specialty organizations and guide further research efforts to measure the effect of transparency on physician and patient decision making and how industry-physician relationships change over time.
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Grant Support: The authors are partially supported by grants TL1TR00098 (D.C.M.), 5T35HL007491 (M.E.J.), UL1TR000100 (J.A.H.-G.), and KL2TR00099 (J.A.H.-G.) from the National Institutes of Health. The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Potential Competing Interests: Dr Hattangadi-Gluth received a research grant from Varian Medical Systems, unrelated to the current study.