Pharmaceutical companies paid radiologists more than $43.6 million in 2015, according to a new study published by Academic Radiology, but do such payments negatively impact public perception?
Thr Physicians Payment Sunshine Act says that manufacturers and medical suppliers are required to submit all payments of more than $10 to CMS. Payments may include funding for research, consultant fees, gifts or even meals.
Two Canadian researchers explored CMS Open Payments data to find all payments made by pharmaceutical companies to individual radiologists in 2015. Payments made to groups were not included in the research.
“Previous research based on initial CMS data from 2013 suggested that industry payments received by radiologists in the United States were relatively lower and infrequent when compared to other medical specialties,” wrote authors Marc Jutras, University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine in Vancouver, and Faisal Khosa, MD, MBA, department of radiology at Vancouver General Hospital. “Similar data were obtained in further studies that included the 2014 reporting year. It has been suggested that industry payments in other fields may contribute to increased healthcare utilization. The situation in radiology is different since radiologists themselves are barred from ordering any diagnostic imaging studies according to Medicare regulations, and it has been proposed that such regulations have potentially made radiologists a less-attractive target for industry relationships.”
Overall, radiologists received $43,685,052 in payments from pharmaceutical companies in 2015. This is down from approximately $59.6 million in 2014 and approximately $13.5 million in 2013. (Note: Data was only collected for the final five months of 2013.)
Diving deeper into the numbers, pharmaceutical companies made more than 65,000 total payments to individual radiologists in 2015. The mean payment was $667, while the median payment was $32.
In addition, more than 9,800 general radiologists received more than 44,000 total payments for a total of approximately $24.9 million. More than 400 neuroradiologists received more than 3,500 total payments for a total of approximately $9.7 million. Neuroradiologists had a higher median payment (more than $80) than any other specialty.
Jutras and Khosa noted that just 29 payments submitted to CMS were disputed by radiologists.
“The low percentage of disputes that were initiated may simply reflect the accurate recording of transactions between commercial entities and practicing radiologists, indicating a high degree of transparency on both sides,” the authors wrote. “Alternatively, it is possible that practitioners may not be willing to take the time to file cumbersome paperwork for disputed payments, especially considering the large number of minor payments for things like food and beverages that were seen across all radiology subspecialties.”
Jutras and Khosa explained that it is currently unknown how, exactly, these statistics impact public perception of the radiology. Previous research has shown mixed reactions from the public about such payments; some people feel they are just part of doing business, but others think they send the wrong message and may result in bias.
“Further research on public perception of physician compensation in light of the recent passage of the Sunshine Act will be beneficial,” they wrote.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.