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Disparities Among Industry's Highly Compensated Orthopaedic Surgeons
Joseph X Robin1, Sudarsan Murali2, Kyle D Paul3
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, New York University, New York, NY.
JB & JS Open Access
|December 13, 2021
Summary
Industry payments to orthopaedic surgeons are predominantly male, with spine and sports medicine specialists earning the most. Transparency initiatives aim to reveal these financial relationships and address gender disparities in compensation.
Area of Science:
- Orthopaedic Surgery
- Medical Economics
- Health Policy
Background:
- Physician-industry financial relationships are under scrutiny.
- Publicly available data aims to increase transparency in these payments.
- The Affordable Care Act mandated disclosure of industry payments to physicians.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine relationships between industry payments and orthopaedic surgeon demographics.
- To investigate factors influencing compensation, including gender, subspecialty, and practice setting.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data.
- Identified top 25 highest-compensated orthopaedic surgeons from major orthopaedic companies (2013-2017).
- Statistical analyses to determine factors contributing to payment differences.
Main Results:
- Only 0.29% of top earners were women.
- Spine (32.9%), adult reconstruction (27.9%), and sports medicine (14.5%) were dominant subspecialties.
- Sports medicine surgeons received significantly higher mean payments; licensing/royalties were primary compensation.
Conclusions:
- Highly compensated orthopaedic surgeons are predominantly male, specializing in spine or sports medicine.
- Significant gender disparities in industry payments exist.
- Further research is needed to address gender inequality and inform policy.
