STAT+: Payments by drug and device makers to doctors remain widespread, but also vary considerably
The financial ties between drug and device makers and some physicians remains pervasive, despite concerns such relationships may influence medical practice, according to a new analysis of payments made over a recent 10-year span.
From 2013 to 2022, pharmaceutical and device companies made more than 85 million payments totaling $12.1 billion to approximately 826,300 physicians. And 94% of those payments were associated with at least one marketed medical product. Among the products for which the most payments were made included blood thinners and a robotic surgical system.
The analysis also revealed that 57% of all physicians — there were more than 1.4 million whose names were found in the Open Payments database maintained by the U.S. government — received a payment during that time. And the median payment was $48 across 39 medical specialties, although payments varied widely between specialties and between physicians within the same specialty.
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