Industry Payments to Practicing US Rheumatologists, 2014-2019

Area of Science:

• Rheumatology
• Health Economics
• Medical Ethics

Background:

• Physician payments from pharmaceutical companies may impact prescribing habits.
• Understanding financial relationships between industry and rheumatologists is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the nature, quantity, and geographic distribution of payments to US rheumatologists from 2014 to 2019.
• To analyze trends in payment values and identify disparities.

Main Methods:

• Data extracted from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Open Payments database (2014-2019).
• Physician gender identified via the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System registry.
• Statistical analysis included linear regression for trends and Wilcoxon rank sum test for gender differences.

Main Results:

• Over $221 million in payments were made to 5,723 rheumatologists from 2014-2019.
• The annual value of payments significantly increased over time.
• A small percentage of rheumatologists received a large proportion of the total payments, and male rheumatologists received higher median payments than female rheumatologists.

Conclusions:

• Industry payments to rheumatologists have grown and are concentrated among a few physicians.
• Further investigation is warranted to determine the influence of these payments on rheumatology prescribing practices.