Background Financial relationships between nephrologists and the health care industry have been a concern in the United States over the last decade. Methods To evaluate industry payments to nephrologists, we conducted a cross-sectional study examining nonresearch and research payments to all US nephrologists registered in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System between 2014 and 2021, using the Open Payments database. Payment data were descriptively analyzed based on monetary value, and payment trends were evaluated by a generalized estimating equations model. Results From 2014 through 2021, 10,463 of 12,059 nephrologists (87%) received at least one payment from the US health care industry, totaling $778 million. The proportion of nephrologists who did not receive nonresearch payments varied each year, ranging from 38% to 51%. Nonresearch payments comprised 22% ($168 million) of overall industry payments in monetary value but 87% in the number of payments. Among those receiving payments, median per-physician 8-year aggregated payment values were $999 in nonresearch payments and $102,329 in associated research payments. Male nephrologists were more likely than female nephrologists to receive research payments but the per-physician amount did not differ. However, nonresearch payments were three times larger for male nephrologists, and increased by 8% annually between 2014 and 2019 among male nephrologists but remained stable among female nephrologists. The top 5% of nephrologists receiving nonresearch payments received 81% of all such payments. Conclusions Between 2014 and 2021, 87% of US nephrologists received at least one payment from the health care industry. Notably, nonresearch payments to nephrologists have been increasing since the Open Payments database’s 2014 launch. Male nephrologists were more likely than female nephrologists to receive research payments.

There are prevalent financial relationships between dermatologists and pharmaceutical companies in Japan. However little was known about the extent of whole picture of the personal payments made to dermatologists by pharmaceutical companies. This study aimed to examine the personal payments to the board-certified dermatologists by the Japanese Dermatological Association from the pharmaceutical companies between 2016 and 2019. Using the publicly disclosed payments data by the pharmaceutical companies between 2016 and 2019, we evaluated the magnitude, prevalence, and trends in the personal payments made to all board-certified dermatologists for the lecturing, writing, and consulting compensations. The payments were descriptively analyzed overall and by dermatologist demographics. Additionally, the payment trends were assessed by generalized estimating equation models. Of 6883 active board-certified dermatologists, 3121 (45.3%) received a total of $33,223,806 personal payments between 2016 and 2019. The median per-physician payments and number of payments (interquartile range) were $1,737 ($613–$5,287) and 4.0 (2.0–10.0) over the four years, respectively. Only top 1%, 5%, 10% of dermatologists received 41.7% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 38.2–45.1%), 76.9% (95% CI: 74.7–79.1%), and 87.6% (95% CI: 86.2–88.9%) of overall payments. The number of dermatologists receiving payments and per-dermatologist payments increased by 4.3% (95% CI: 3.1%‒5.5%, p < 0.001) and 16.4% (95% CI: 13.5%‒19.4%, p < 0.001) each year. The board-certification in dermatology-oncology, in cosmetic dermatology, and male sex were significantly associated with higher personal payments with relative monetary values of 2.29 (95% CI: 1.65–3.19, p < 0.001), 3.16 (95% CI: 1.89–5.26, p < 0.001), and 5.38 (95% CI: 4.12–7.04, p < 0.001). Less than half of Japanese board-certified dermatologists received lower personal payments from the pharmaceutical companies than those to other specialists. However, these personal payments were increasingly more prevalent and greater over the four years.

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Background Although financial interactions between healthcare industry and pediatric hematologist/oncologists (PHOs) contributes to and are vital for improving patient care, they could be conflicts of interest among PHOs. Nevertheless, little is known about financial relationships between healthcare industry and PHOs in the United States. Methods (procedure) This cross-sectional analysis of the Open Payments Database examined general and research payments to PHOs from healthcare industry in the United States between 2013 and 2021. PHOs were considered as physicians whose primary specialty was pediatric hematology/oncology in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System. Payments to the PHOs were analyzed descriptively. Trends in payments were assessed using generalized estimating equation models. Results Of 2784 PHOs, 2142 (76.9%) PHOs received payments totaling $187.3 million from the healthcare industry between 2013-2021. Approximately $46.3 million (24.8%) were general payments and $137.7 million (73.5%) were funding for research where PHOs served as principal investigators (associated research funding). While 40.1% of PHOs accepted associated research funding, 72.7% of PHOs received general payments from the healthcare industry. Both general payments and associated research funding considerably increased between 2014-2019. The number of PHOs receiving general payments and associated research funding annually increased by 2.2% (95% CI: 1.2%–3.3%, p<0.001) and 5.0% (95% CI: 3.3%–6.8%, p<0.001) between 2014-2019, respectively. Conclusions This study found that majority of PHOs received non-research payments related to novel hemophilia and cancer drugs. The healthcare industry spent three fourth of their payments for research purposes. Both research and non-research payments significantly increased over the study period.