Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2020 Jul 15;107(4):836-843. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2020.04.007. Epub 2020 Apr 15.
The health care industry has many stakeholders who seek relationships within government to ensure certain interests are considered in the legislative process. This study characterized the federal political contributions of US radiation oncologists (ROs).
Public finance data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) containing self-identified ROs' contributions to a federal candidate or committee were obtained from 2003 to 2018. Contribution recipients were classified as a political action committee (PAC) or a presidential, Senate, or House candidate. Political parties of recipients were based on FEC designations. For PACs, political parties of recipients were based on spending patterns to political parties in each 2-year election cycle or, when unavailable, overall spending patterns of greater than 50% to 1 political party, as detailed by the Center for Responsive Politics. Data were analyzed temporally, and Spearman's rho was used to assess trends.
From 2003 to 2018, the FEC reported a total of 31,646,000 federal political contributions. Exactly 4617 federal political contributions were made from 1021 unique self-identified ROs, totaling $3,350,747. The number of ROs making contributions ranged from 56 in 2005 to 600 in 2016 (mean, 289 ± 191.4 ROs yearly), with a mean annual contribution of $209,422. Of all RO dollars, 61.5% went to Democrats, 37.5% to Republicans, and 1.0% to third-party candidates. Most RO dollars (81.0%) went to PACs rather than candidates, with the majority of those PAC dollars (50.2%) directed toward the American Society for Radiation Oncology Political Action Committee. There was a positive annual trend in number of donors by year (ρ = 0.83, P < .0001) as well as RO contributions to the House (ρ = 0.58, P < .02), Senate (ρ = 0.58, P < .02), Democrats (ρ = 0.81, P < .001), Republicans (ρ = 0.66, P < .006), third-parties (ρ = 0.87, P < .001), PACs (ρ = 0.85, P < .0001), and overall (ρ = 0.8, P < .001). There was not a significant trend in contributions to presidential candidates (ρ = 0.71, P = .06).
ROs' federal political contributions have significantly increased over the last decade and a half. This growth overwhelmingly represents contributions to specialty-focused PACs and both Democratic and Republican congressional candidates.
医疗保健行业有许多利益相关者，他们希望在政府内部建立关系，以确保立法过程中考虑到某些利益。本研究描述了美国放射肿瘤学家（RO）的联邦政治捐款情况。
从联邦选举委员会（FEC）获得了 2003 年至 2018 年自我认定的 RO 向联邦候选人或委员会的捐款的公共财政数据。捐款接受者被归类为政治行动委员会（PAC）或总统、参议院或众议院候选人。接受者的政党是基于 FEC 的指定。对于 PAC，接受者的政党是基于每个 2 年选举周期的政党支出模式，或者在不可用时，根据响应政治中心的规定，总体支出模式大于 50%到 1 个政党。数据按时间进行分析，并使用 Spearman rho 评估趋势。
从 2003 年到 2018 年，FEC 报告了总计 3164.6 万笔联邦政治捐款。来自 1021 位自我认定的 RO 的联邦政治捐款总计 3350747 美元，共计 4617 笔捐款。捐款的 RO 数量从 2005 年的 56 笔增加到 2016 年的 600 笔（平均每年 289±191.4 名 RO），平均每年捐款 209422 美元。在所有 RO 美元中，61.5%流向民主党，37.5%流向共和党，1.0%流向第三方候选人。大多数 RO 美元（81.0%）流向 PAC，而不是候选人，其中大多数 PAC 美元（50.2%）流向美国放射肿瘤学会政治行动委员会。随着时间的推移，捐款人的数量呈正逐年增长趋势（ρ=0.83，P<.0001），以及对众议院（ρ=0.58，P<.02）、参议院（ρ=0.58，P<.02）、民主党（ρ=0.81，P<.001）、共和党（ρ=0.66，P<.006）、第三方（ρ=0.87，P<.001）、PAC（ρ=0.85，P<.0001）和总体（ρ=0.8，P<.001）的捐款也呈正增长趋势。对总统候选人的捐款没有显著趋势（ρ=0.71，P=0.06）。
在过去的十五年中，RO 的联邦政治捐款显著增加。这种增长主要代表了对专业重点 PAC 以及民主党和共和党国会候选人的捐款。
