The following is the summary of “Trend in industry payments to infectious disease physicians in the United States: a seven-year analysis of nonresearch payments from the Open Payments Database between 2014 and 2020” published in the December 2022 issue of Clinical microbiology and infections by Murayama, et al.
Researchers set out to analyze the trajectory of non-research industry payments to U.S. infectious disease doctors between the introduction of the Open Payments Database and the COVID-19 epidemic. The non-research payments made to infectious disease doctors in the Open Payments Database between 2014 and 2020 were subjected to descriptive analysis. The payment trend since the launch of the Open Payments Database and during the early stage of the COVID-19 epidemic was assessed using the generalized estimating equation models using panel data of monthly and yearly payments per physician.
Between 2014 and 2020, 7,901 (81.5%) infectious disease physicians collected a total of $156 837 987 in non-research compensation. The average yearly cost was around $200. Monthly non-research per-physician payments dropped by 58.6% (95% CI: 49.7% to 65.7%, P<0.001), and the number of physicians receiving payments dropped by 54.4% (95% CI: 52.7% to 56.1%, P<0.001). Yet, in the months following the pandemic’s first outbreak, monthly payments to physicians and the total number of physicians receiving payments rose modestly.
Since the commencement of the Open Payments Database’s commencement, total physician payments and the number of physicians receiving payments have declined by 2.6% (95% CI: 0.454.7, p 0.018) and 2.0% (95% CI: 1.6%-2.4%, P<0.001), respectively. Since the introduction of the Open Payments Database, the total amount of payments made to infectious disease doctors for purposes other than research and the number of infectious illness doctors taking payments have remained the same. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic caused an immediate and drastic reduction of almost 50% in non-research reimbursements to infectious disease professionals.
Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1198743X22003913