Medical Governance Research Institute, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Tohoku University School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo Machi, Aoba-Ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8575, Japan.
Int Urogynecol J. 2023 Jun;34(6):1285-1292. doi: 10.1007/s00192-023-05463-y. Epub 2023 Feb 1.
To evaluate the magnitude and trends in personal payments from pharmaceutical companies to urologists in Japan.
This cross-sectional study examined the personal payments made to urologists by the major pharmaceutical companies in Japan between 2016 and 2019. Descriptive analyses were performed on the payment data. All urologists board-certified by the Japanese Urological Association as of March 2022 were included in this study. Trends in personal payments were assessed using the population-averaged generalized estimating equations with panel data of per-physician personal payments.
Among 7016 active board-certified urologists, 4962 (70.7%) accepted 53,070 payments totaling $36,424,239 for reimbursement of lecturing, writing, and consulting compensations from 66 pharmaceutical companies between 2016 and 2019. The median payments per urologist receiving payments were $1714 [interquartile range(IQR): $700-$4583] in payment amounts and 4.0 (IQR: 2.0-10.0) in the number of payments. Only 1%, 5%, 10%, and 25% of top-paid urologists accepted 36.2%, 64.8%, 75.8%, and 90.1% of overall payments respectively. The payments per urologist and the number of payment contracts had annually increased over this period by 4.1% (95% CI: 2.3%-6.0%, p < 0.001) and 2.4% (95% CI: 1.2%-3.7%, p < 0.001), but there was no significant change in the number of urologists receiving payments, with a relative average annual change of 0.7% (95% CI: -0.15%-1.6%, p = 0.10) between 2016 and 2019.
Most urologists received personal payments for lecturing, consulting, and writing compensations from pharmaceutical companies in Japan. The payments from pharmaceutical companies had been increasing over the 4-year period. These payments were substantially concentrated on a small number of urologists.
评估日本泌尿科医生从制药公司获得的个人报酬的规模和趋势。
本横断面研究调查了 2016 年至 2019 年期间日本主要制药公司向泌尿科医生支付的个人报酬。对支付数据进行描述性分析。本研究纳入截至 2022 年 3 月由日本泌尿科协会认证的所有活跃的泌尿科医生。使用个体医生个人报酬的面板数据的人群平均广义估计方程评估个人报酬趋势。
在 7016 名活跃的认证泌尿科医生中，4962 名（70.7%）接受了来自 66 家制药公司的 53070 笔报酬，用于补偿演讲、写作和咨询费用，总额为 36424239 美元，支付时间为 2016 年至 2019 年。接受报酬的泌尿科医生的中位数支付金额为 1714 美元（四分位距（IQR）：700-4583 美元），支付次数为 4.0（IQR：2.0-10.0）。仅 1%、5%、10%和 25%的报酬最高的泌尿科医生分别接受了 36.2%、64.8%、75.8%和 90.1%的总报酬。在此期间，每位泌尿科医生的报酬和支付合同数量每年分别增加 4.1%（95%置信区间：2.3%-6.0%，p<0.001）和 2.4%（95%置信区间：1.2%-3.7%，p<0.001），但接受报酬的泌尿科医生数量没有明显变化，相对平均年变化率为 0.7%（95%置信区间：-0.15%-1.6%，p=0.10），2016 年至 2019 年期间。
大多数泌尿科医生从日本制药公司获得演讲、咨询和写作报酬。制药公司的付款在 4 年期间有所增加。这些款项主要集中在少数泌尿科医生身上。
