Assessing the domino effect: Female physician industry payments fall short, parallel gender inequalities in medicine

Abstract

BackgroundPhysician-industry relationships have been complex in modern medicine. Since large proportions of research, education and consulting are industry-backed, this is an important area to consider when examining gender inequality in medicine. MethodsThe Open Payments Program (OPP) database from August 2013 to December 2016 was analyzed. In order to identify physicians' genders, the OPP was matched with the National Provider Index dataset. Descriptive statistics of payments to female compared to male surgeons were obtained and stratified by payment type, subspecialty, geographic location and year. Results3,925,707 transactions to 136,845 physicians were analyzed. Of them, 31,297 physicians were surgeons with an average payment per provider of $131,252 to male surgeons compared to $62,101 to female surgeons. Significantly fewer women received consultant, royalty/licensure, ownership and speaker payments. However, women received a higher average amount per surgeon compared to their male counterparts within research payments. Overall payments to women trended upwards over time. ConclusionGender inequality still exists in medicine, and in industry-physician payments. Industry should increasingly consider engaging women in consultancies, speaking engagements, and research.