Types and Distribution of Payments From Industry to Physicians in 2015

IMPORTANCE: Given scrutiny over financial conflicts of interest in health care, it is important to understand the types and distribution of industry-related payments to physicians. OBJECTIVE: To determine the types and distribution of industry-related payments to physicians in 2015 and the association of physician specialty and sex with receipt of payments from industry. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Observational, retrospective, population-based study of licensed US physicians (per National Plan 95% CI, 13. 1-13. 6; odds ratio OR, 1. 72; P <. 001). Surgeons had a mean per-physician reported payment value of 6879 (95% CI, 5895-7862) vs 2227 (95% CI, 2141-2314) among primary care physicians (absolute difference, 4651; 95% CI, 4014-5288). After adjusting for geographic spending region and sole proprietorship, men within each specialty had a higher odds of receiving general payments than did women: surgery, 62. 5% vs 56. 5% (OR, 1. 28; 95% CI, 1. 26-1. 31) ; primary care, 50. 9% vs 43. 0% (OR, 1. 38; 95% CI, 1. 36-1. 39) ; specialists, 36. 3% vs 33. 4% (OR, 1. 15; 95% CI, 1. 13-1. 17) ; and interventionalists, 58. 1% vs 40. 7% (OR, 2. 03; 95% CI, 1. 97-2. 10; P <. 001 for all tests). Similarly, men reportedly received more royalty or license payments than did women: surgery, 1. 2% vs 0. 03% (OR, 43. 20; 95% CI, 25. 02-74. 57) ; primary care, 0. 02% vs 0. 002% (OR, 9. 34; 95% CI, 4. 11-21. 23) ; specialists, 0. 08% vs 0. 01% (OR, 3. 67; 95% CI, 1. 71-7. 89) ; and for interventionalists, 0. 13% vs 0. 04% (OR, 7. 98; 95% CI, 2. 87-22. 19; P <. 001 for all tests). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: According to data from 2015 Open Payments reports, 48% of physicians were reported to have received a total of 2. 4 billion in industry-related payments, primarily general payments, with a higher likelihood and higher value of payments to physicians in surgical vs primary care specialties and to male vs female physicians.