Observational studyBMJ open2019
Association between physician characteristics and payments from industry in 2015-2017: observational study.
Observational study in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Interactions with the pharmaceutical industry and the practice, knowledge and beliefs of medical oncologists and clinical haematologists: a systematic review.British journal of cancer · 2022Pooled it
- Are Financial Payments From the Pharmaceutical Industry Associated With Physician Prescribing? : A Systematic Review.Annals of internal medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Money, Meals, and Marketing in Medicine: A 13-Year Follow-Up Survey of Physicians.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2026Article
- When Zero Investment Does Not Mean Zero Financial Interest: Risks of Interpreting Ownership Data in Open Payments.Cureus · 2026Article
- How often do oncologists receive industry payments from competing companies?The oncologist · 2026Article
- Observational
- Relationship Between Industry Funding and Otologists.Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery · 2025Article
- Industry Payments and Sentiments Toward Robotic Surgery Among US Physicians.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Dissemination of VMAT-2 Inhibitors: A New Class Drug for Tardive Dyskinesia and Huntington Disease.Neurology. Clinical practice · 2025Article
- Exploring the Link Between Factors in Musculoskeletal Oncology Surgery Fellowships and Industry Supplemental Income.Cureus · 2024Article
- Differences in Financial Conflicts of Interest Among Participants in a National Spine Conference.Global spine journal · 2024Article
- Cross-sectional analysis of financial relationships between board certified allergists and the pharmaceutical industry in Japan.BMC medical ethics · 2024Article
- The Association of Subspecialty and Sex with Industry Payments to Internal Medicine Physicians Who Recently Completed Training.Journal of general internal medicine · 2024Observational
- Pharmaceutical industry payments and delivery of non-recommended and low value cancer drugs: population based cohort study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2023Article
- Association of Device Industry Payments, Physician Supply, and Regional Utilization of Orthopedic and Cardiac Procedures.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Article
- Pharmaceutical payments to Japanese board-certified dermatologists: a 4-year retrospective analysis of personal payments from pharmaceutical companies between 2016 and 2019.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Cross-sectional analysis of pharmaceutical payments to Japanese board-certified gastroenterologists between 2016 and 2019.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Industry Payments During the COVID-19 Pandemic to Cardiologists in the United States.CJC open · 2023Article
- Pharmaceutical industry payments to NHS trusts in England: A four-year analysis of the Disclosure UK database.PloS one · 2023Article
- Trends in Industry Payments to Diabetologists and Endocrinologists in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Cureus · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate the association between physician characteristics and the value of industry payments.
designObservational study. SETTING AND
participantsUsing the 2015-2017 Open Payments reports of industry payments linked to the Physician Compare database, we examined the association between physician characteristics (physician sex, years in practice, medical school attended and specialty) and the industry payment value, adjusting for other physician characteristic and institution fixed effects (effectively comparing physicians practicing at the same institution).
main outcome measuresOur primary outcome was the value of total industry payments to physicians including (1) general payments (all forms of payments other than those classified for research purpose, eg, consulting fees, food, beverage), (2) research payments (payments for research endeavours under a written contract or protocol) and (3) ownership interests (eg, stock or stock options, bonds). We also investigated each category of payment separately.
resultsOf 544 264 physicians treating Medicare beneficiaries, a total of $5.8 billion in industry payments were made to 365 801 physicians during 2015-2017. The top 5% of physicians, by cumulative payments, accounted for 91% of industry payments. Within the same institution, male physicians, physicians with 21-30 years in practice and physicians who attended top 50 US medical schools (based on the research ranking) received higher industry payments. Across specialties, orthopaedic surgeons, neurosurgeons and endocrinologists received the highest payments. When we investigated individual types of payment, we found that orthopaedic surgeons received the highest general payments; haematologists/oncologists were the most likely to receive research payments and surgeons were the most likely to receive ownership interests compared with other types of physicians.
conclusionsIndustry payments to physicians were highly concentrated among a small number of physicians. Male sex, longer length of time in clinical practice, graduated from a top-ranked US medical school and practicing certain specialties, were independently associated with higher industry payments.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.