Industry Payments and Sentiments Toward Robotic Surgery Among US Physicians

Area of Science:

• Medical technology
• Surgical innovation
• Physician sentiment analysis

Background:

• Robotic surgery adoption is increasing, often accompanied by industry payments to physicians.
• Objective assessment of physician perceptions regarding robotic surgery is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate US-based physicians' sentiments towards robotic surgery.
• To determine if industry payments correlate with these perceptions.

Main Methods:

• A cohort study analyzed 268 US physicians' social media posts on X (formerly Twitter) from 2009 to 2024.
• Physicians' specialties were verified, and trainees/non-clinicians were excluded.
• Industry payments from Intuitive Surgical Inc. were identified via Open Payments.

Main Results:

• Overall physician sentiment was mildly positive and posts were largely objective.
• No significant difference in sentiment was found between physicians who received payments and those who did not.
• Physicians receiving higher payments showed increased positive sentiment and subjectivity post-payment.

Conclusions:

• Publicly available social media data can quantify physician perceptions of robotic surgery.
• These insights can inform healthcare practices and ensure balanced information dissemination.
• Utilizing social media data helps maintain the integrity of physician-shared health information.