Relationship between industry royalty and licensing payments and patent authorship among orthopedic spine surgeons

Thomas, Kevin A.; Cabell, Akaila; Hu, Serena S.

doi:10.1016/j.spinee.2020.12.003

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Notably, a recent study by Lieber et al found a significant relationship between high amounts of consulting payments from industry and research productivity 27 . Similarly, as demonstrated in the present analysis, a majority of payments reported by orthopaedic surgeons are related to royalty or licensing fees for the intellectual property of these inventor-surgeons 9,23,28,29 . Also related to this notion, various analyses have reported that orthopaedic patients have positive opinions regarding the industry payments of their providers 30-33 as they believe that these relationships help orthopaedic surgeons better serve their patients while improving the overall quality of health care.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Industry Payments Among Appropriate Use Criteria Voting Panels

Acuña

Jella

Barksdale

et al. 2021

Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery

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Background: Although multiple studies have consistently demonstrated that orthopaedic surgeons receive greater transfers of value than other specialties, the industry payments of providers who are involved in the formation of practice guidelines have not been thoroughly explored. Therefore, the purpose of our analysis was to evaluate the industry payments of the authors of the Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). Methods: The publicly available AAOS web portal (OrthoGuidelines.org) was queried for all AUCs that had been released between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2019, regarding the management of musculoskeletal pathologies. A crosssectional analysis of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments database was conducted to determine the number and total value of industry payments to AUC voting committee members during the year of voting for the AUC. Industry payments for each orthopaedic surgeon voting member were compared with payments received by orthopaedic surgeons nationwide who received any payment within the same year. The proportion of orthopaedic surgeon voting members who received any industry payment was compared with the proportion of orthopaedic surgeons nationwide who received payments. Results: Our analysis included a total of 18 different AUCs with 216 voting members, 157 of whom were orthopaedic surgeons. Of the orthopaedic surgeon voting members, 105 (67%) received industry payments, a rate roughly comparable with the national average among orthopaedic surgeons (74%). For 7 of 18 AUCs (39%), the median payment per orthopaedic surgeon voting member was above the median among orthopaedic surgeons receiving payments nationwide that year. Qualitatively, orthopaedic surgeon voting members were more likely to receive payments in the form of royalties, licenses, or speaking fees than orthopaedic surgeons nationwide. Conclusions: AUC voting members receive payments at frequencies and magnitudes that are roughly comparable with orthopaedic surgeons nationwide. Whether voting panel members receiving payments at these rates is ideal or is in the best interest of patients is a policy decision for the AAOS and society at large. Our study confirms that payments are common and, thus, continued vigilance is justified.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Industry Payments Among Appropriate Use Criteria Voting Panels

Acuña

Jella

Barksdale

et al. 2021

Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…These results may be better understood in light of a 2018 study by Boddapati et al 27 concluding that only industry-payment aggregates exceeding $10,000 were independent predictors of h-index score. A similar pattern emerged from Thomas et al’s 28 study of industry payments to spine surgeons. They found a significant association between the h-index and industry payments to top royalty and licensing earners that was not present when lower-percentile earners were incorporated into the analysis.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

2015–2021 Industry Payments to Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeons: Analysis of Trends and Characteristics of Top-earning Surgeons

Noe,

Kaji,

Thomas

et al. 2023

Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics

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Background: Analysis of industry payments to pediatric orthopaedic surgeons last occurred in 2017. We investigated payments to pediatric orthopaedic surgeons from 2015 to 2021 to understand surgeon characteristics associated with increased industry payments. Methods: Open Payments Database datasets from 2015 to 2021 were queried for nonresearch payments to pediatric orthopaedic surgeons. Annual aggregates and subcategories were recorded. For surgeons receiving payments in 2021, the Hirsch index (h-index), gender, and US census division were found using the Scopus database, Open Payments Database, and online hospital profiles, respectively. χ2, Fisher exact, Mann-Whitney U, and t tests were used to compare surgeons in the top 25%, 10%, and 5% payment percentiles to the bottom 75%, 90%, and 95%, respectively. Results: Payments rose 125% from 2015 to 2021. Education, royalties, and faculty/speaker increased most, while travel/lodging, honoraria, charitable contributions, and ownership interest decreased. Only royalties increased from 2019 to 2021. In 2021, of 419 pediatric orthopaedic surgeons receiving industry payments, men received greater median aggregate payments than women ($379.03 vs. $186.96, P=0.047). There were no differences in gender proportions between the top 75% and bottom 25% (P=0.054), top 10% and bottom 90% (P=0.235), and top 5% and bottom 95% (P=0.280) earning comparison groups. The h-index was weakly positively correlated with industry payments (r s=0.203, P<0.001). Mean h-indices in the 75th (P<0.001, 95% CI: 2.62-7.65), 90th (P=0.001, 95% CI: 3.28-13.03), and 95th (P=0.005, 95% CI: 4.25-21.11) percentiles were significantly higher. Proportions of surgeons from the Middle Atlantic and West South Central in the 90th (P=0.025) and 95th percentiles (P=0.033), respectively, were significantly lower compared to all other regions. A higher proportion of surgeons from the Pacific were placed in the 90th (P=0.004) and 95th (P=0.024) percentiles. Conclusions: Industry payments to pediatric orthopaedic surgeons rose from 2015 to 2021. Most categories fell from 2019 to 2021, which may be related to the SARS-CoV-19 pandemic. In 2021, though gender was not related to aggregate payment percentile, location in select US census divisions and h-index was. Level of Evidence: Level II—Retrospective study.

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Pandemic-Resilient Investment: Sustainable Knowledge Infrastructure for Medical AI

Deng

2024

J Knowl Econ

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Relationship between industry royalty and licensing payments and patent authorship among orthopedic spine surgeons

Cited by 6 publications

References 11 publications

Industry Payments Among Appropriate Use Criteria Voting Panels

Industry Payments Among Appropriate Use Criteria Voting Panels

2015–2021 Industry Payments to Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeons: Analysis of Trends and Characteristics of Top-earning Surgeons

Pandemic-Resilient Investment: Sustainable Knowledge Infrastructure for Medical AI

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