Pakanati Abhinandan R, Kovvuru Karthik, Thombre Vaishali, Kanduri Swetha Rani, Nalleballe Krishna, Ranabothu Saritha
Nephrology, The Kidney Clinic, LLC, Snellville, USA.
Nephrology, Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans, USA.
Cureus. 2021 Aug 10;13(8):e17057. doi: 10.7759/cureus.17057. eCollection 2021 Aug.
Background Industry payments to physicians raise concerns about conflicts of interest that have the potential to impact patient care. In this study, we explored nonresearch and nonownership payments from industry to nephrologists to identify trends in compensation. Methodology Using data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), we explored financial relationships between industry and US nephrologists from 2014 to 2018. We analyzed payment characteristics including payment categories, payment distribution among physicians, regional trends, and biomedical manufacturers. Results In this retrospective study, a total of $75,174,999 was paid to nephrologists in the United States during the study period (i.e., 2014-2018). The number of board-certified nephrologists receiving payment from the industry increased from 11,642 in 2014 to 13,297 in 2018. Among board-certified nephrologists, 56% to 63% received industry payments during the study period. The total payments to nephrologists increased from $13,113,512 in 2014 to $16,467,945 in 2017, with consulting fees (24%) and compensation for services other than consulting (35%) being the highest-paid categories. The top 10% of physician beneficiaries collected 90% of the total industry payments. Conclusions A small proportion of US nephrologists consistently received the majority of industry payments, the value of which grew over the study period.
背景 行业向医生支付报酬引发了对利益冲突的担忧，这种冲突有可能影响患者护理。在本研究中，我们探讨了行业向肾病学家支付的非研究和非所有权报酬，以确定薪酬趋势。方法 使用医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心（CMS）的数据，我们研究了2014年至2018年期间行业与美国肾病学家之间的财务关系。我们分析了支付特征，包括支付类别、医生之间的支付分布、区域趋势和生物医学制造商。结果 在这项回顾性研究中，研究期间（即2014 - 2018年）美国肾病学家共获得75,174,999美元的支付。接受行业支付的获得董事会认证的肾病学家数量从2014年的11,642人增加到2018年的13,297人。在获得董事会认证的肾病学家中，56%至63%在研究期间接受了行业支付。支付给肾病学家的总金额从2014年的13,113,512美元增加到2017年的16,467,945美元，其中咨询费（24%）和咨询以外服务的报酬（35%）是支付最高的类别。收入最高的10%的医生受益人获得了行业支付总额的90%。结论 一小部分美国肾病学家持续获得了大部分行业支付，其金额在研究期间有所增长。
