Trends in reported industry payments to physicians practicing cardiac electrophysiology from 2013 to 2018 in the United States

Abstract

Yong-mei Cha received research funding from Medtronic. Siva K. Mulpuru is on the Biotronik SICD advisory board, NIH CICS study section, received funding from Mayo Clinic Prospective study grant, and a Biosense Webster, educational conference participant. Samuel J. Asirvatham receives royalties for work licensed through Mayo Clinic to a privately held company for contributions related to the use of nerve signal modulation to treat central, autonomic, and peripheral nervous system disorders, including pain. Mayo Clinic receives royalties and owns equity in this company. Samuel J. Asirvatham is a co-patent holder for a technique to minimize coagulum formation during radiofrequency ablation. Products or technologies related to the above disclosures are not being discussed in this paper. Samuel J. Asirvatham has received honoraria for speakership for Atricure,

Sunshine on industry payments to cardiac electrophysiologists: Are we seeing more clearly now that the “rain” has gone?

“…In this issue of the Journal , Tseng et al 3 eloquently shine a light on industry payments made specifically to cardiac electrophysiologists from 2013 to 2018 by analyzing the Open Payments database. Payments were categorized into three types: general (i.e., not connected with a research agreement or protocol and include items such as food and beverage, travel and lodging, consulting fees, royalties), research (i.e., connected to a research agreement or protocol), and ownership (e.g., company ownership, investment interest).…”

“…In this issue of the Journal, Tseng et al 3 , and 98%, respectively. In addition, the total number of payments across this time period increased by 19% for general payments but decreased by 53% for research and 67% for ownership.…”

Industry Payments to Practicing US Rheumatologists, 2014–2019

“…Conflicts of interest have been identified by rheumatologists as an important ethical concern (1)(2)(3), but the nature, geographic distribution, and quantity of industry payments to rheumatologists have yet to be investigated. Such payments have been characterized in multiple other medical subspecialties using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments Database (4)(5)(6)(7)(8). This database was established as part of the 2010 Sunshine Act, which mandated reporting of pharmaceutical industry payments to physicians.…”