Big research payments in radiation oncology are distributed only to a few
New research in the Journal of the American College of Radiology suggests an association between disclosed payment from the healthcare industry and increased individual productivity metrics.
“Studies have suggested radiation oncologists are less likely to disclose financial conflicts of interest compared with their surgical and medical oncology colleagues,” wrote Nicholas Zaorsky, MD, of the Penn State Cancer Institute in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and colleagues.
Only 58 percent of radiation oncologists disclose their financial conflicts of interest compared to 84 percent of surgical oncologists and 77 percent of medical oncologists.
Zaorsky and colleagues examined industry payments within radiology oncology and the correlation between receiving disclosed industry payments and academic productivity. The researchers obtained 2015 industry payment data using CMS's database.
Payments for academic radiation oncologist were divided into “general payments,” non-research-related industry contributions (consulting, education, etc.), research payments, research-related industry contributions (grants, etc.) and the total investment in pharmaceutical and biomedical device companies.
Zaorsky and colleagues calculated each researcher’s productivity using an “h-index”—defined as the number of publications that have been cited at least “h” times. In other words, the authors explained, a radiation oncologist with an “h-index” of 10 has had 10 publications cited at least 10 times each in the peer-reviewed literature, regardless of the total number of publications. Another calculation was the “m-index”—which measured how quickly the h-index had risen or how quickly the research rose in seniority. A higher m-index implies a quicker rise in the h-index or a faster rise in academic seniority, the authors noted.
The analysis included 22,543 individual payments totaling more than $25.5 million to 2,995 radiation oncologists. But 75 percent of the 1,189 academic radiation oncologists received less than an average of $167 in payments.
Additionally, about 561 radiation oncologists received $12.6 million in payments, accounting for 56 percent of the total payments to radiation oncologists. Just 10 radiation oncologists received more than $6.4 million in payments.
The authors noted the research does not show causality. Instead, the results show an association between financial conflicts of interest and academic productivity. They said further research is warranted to find the cause of the association.
“Financial conflicts of interest may have both positive and negative effects on scientific progress and patient care,” Zaorsky et al. concluded. “A partnership between academia and industry may lead to scientific discoveries. In contrast, industry-funded trials are more likely to publish positive results, and clinicians as well as patients may question the integrity of the conclusions.”
As a senior news writer for TriMed, Subrata covers cardiology, clinical innovation and healthcare business. She has a master’s degree in communication management and 12 years of experience in journalism and public relations.