Industry pay to spine surgeons dipped 17.5 percent over six years, according to a study published in The Spine Journal.
Five things to know:
1. Researchers used public information from the CMS Open Payments Database to analyze industry and research payments from 2014 to 2019. Trends in payments to all physicians were compared to that of spine and orthopedic surgeons.
2. Researchers found an aggregate of $42.7 billion general and research payments reported to all physicians over the six-year period, and 2.6 percent of that went to spine surgeons.
3. Industry general and research payments to spine surgeons decreased by 17.5 percent over the study period, while increasing 8.7 percent for all physicians.
4. The top eight spine device manufactures with the highest level of spine surgeon payments accounted for 72.9 percent of payments in 2014 but decreased payments by 17.6 percent by 2019.
5. The study concluded, "Industry general and research payments to all physicians increased from 2014 to 2019 but decreased to spine surgeons, largely due to decreasing payments from eight device manufacturers with the highest level of surgeon payments. A small subset of spine surgeons continues to receive increasing payments. The implications of decreasing investments in research by industry and of large payments made to a small group of spine surgeons bears cautious oversight, both for the future of the specialty and any impact on patient care outcomes."