Background

The Sunshine Act has reported eight years of industry payments to physicians. Collaboration between industry and physicians has helped advanced the field of bariatric surgery. Industry utilizes various methods to help promote understanding their devices. The purpose of this study is to ascertain payments to general surgeons from industry and compare changes in payments overtime.

Methods

We analyzed payment trends using Physician Payment Sunshine Act (PPSA) data of the fiscal year 2015 and 2021 using the Open-Payments-Program website.

Results

In 2021, $50,083,688 was paid to 16,682 general surgeons, the median (interquartile range [IQR]) was $150[45-760]. Of all general surgeons: 39% received payments of <$100; 38% received $100-$999; 17% received $1,000- $9,999; and 6% received >$10,000. The four highest paid general surgeons received: $2,608,799; $1,536,970; 389,555; and 382,963. Ten companies contributed to 80% of payments. The four highest paying companies were: Intuitive($26,327,257); Medtronic($5,228,996); Cook($1,618,747); and Ethicon($1,315,808). In comparison, during 2015, $43,609,610 was paid to 19,602 general surgeons, the median [IQR] was $177[53-887]. Of all general surgeons: 36% received payments of <$100; 40% received $100-$999; 20% received $1,000- $9,999; and 3% received >$10,000. The four highest paid surgeons received: $1,757,619; $821,851; $630,173; $448,366. Ten companies contributed to 57% of payments made to surgeons. The four highest paying companies were: Intuitive($10,624,754); Bard($2,894,894); Covidien($2,639,209); and Ethicon($2,406,869).

Conclusions

Comparing the 2021 to 2015 PPSA data, per surgeon there was a median $27 decrease in payment that was not statically significant. 76% of general surgeons received payments of less than $1,000 and 6% of surgeons received payments of >$10,000.