3% of interventional radiologists collect 66% of all industry payments—or $40M
A small portion of interventional radiologists collected the majority of all industry payments made to the specialty, raising questions about potential quid pro quo relationships.
That’s according to new research out of Yale University, published by Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology [1] Wednesday. Experts with the Ivy League institution analyzed data from CMS’ Open Payments program, launched in 2014 to track physicians’ ties to drugmakers, device manufacturers and other industry entities.
Between 2017 and 2021, about 125 interventional radiologists received greater than $100,000 in gifts, consulting/speaker fees and educational payouts from the imaging industry. The median payment value was a little over $214,000 and the total pot among these 125 docs was $40 million.
This high-paid subset represented 3% (or 125/4,272) of all IR subspecialists receiving payments from the industry. However, they collected 66% of all funds ($40 million/$61 million).
“The characteristics of the highest-paid interventional radiologists are not well known,” corresponding author Ajay Malhotra, MD, with Yale’s Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, and colleagues wrote July 24. “The industry generally refers to physicians who are paid honoraria and non-research amounts as opinion or thought leaders, and thereby in a position to influence practice. The purpose of this study was to assess the characteristics of interventional radiologists who received more than $100,000 in general industry payments over a 5-year period and explore the positions of influence that they hold.”
Many of these top earners did, in fact, appear to hold positions of prominence. About 47% had faculty appointments at the time of the study, and 30% held hospital leadership roles, the study found. Another 22% were authors of clinical practice guidelines, 18% served on journal editorial boards and 12% were leaders at specialty associations. Castle Connolly previously named 26% of these high earners as “top doctors,” the study reported.
“It has been speculated that industry may preferentially make payments to individuals thought to be the key opinion leaders who are more likely to affect practice of other physicians, with preference for physicians with high academic impact,” Malhotra and co-authors wrote. “Our study shows that a significant proportion of these high payment IR physicians are in leadership positions including at the hospital and national society levels…Further work is needed to assess rates of disclosure, and real or perceived conflicts of interest.”
Read more about the results at the link below. Malhotra and some of the same co-authors printed another study on industry payments July 20 in Clinical Imaging.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.