Journal Highlights
American Journal of Ophthalmology, March 2022
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Since 2010, CMS has been required to report industry payments to physicians. In a 2013-2014 study of industry payments to ophthalmologists, the compensation significantly favored men. Following up on this work, Patel et al. looked at industry-partnership trends for 2015-2018. They found that, despite growing participation of females in industry relationships, women remain underrepresented in this area and earn less than men do from similar types of collaborations.
For the recent study, the authors gathered information from the CMS Open Payments database and focused on payments for research, consulting, honoraria, industry grants, speaker/faculty roles, royalties, and other services rendered by board-certified ophthalmologists in the United States. For each subcategory of payment, they compared data for males and females. Statistical analyses were performed on mean and median values, and a trend test was conducted to assess changes over time.
The proportion of board-certified ophthalmologists who were female ranged from 21.3% in 2015 to 24.1% in 2018. From 2015 through 2018, the total number of ophthalmologists with industry ties varied from 1,629 to 1,873. The proportion of women in these partnerships ranged from 17.2% to 19.4%. In each year of the study, industry-related compensation was significantly lower for women. Median values for women and men, respectively, were $3,273 versus $4,825 in 2015 (p = .003), $3,600 versus $4,750 in 2016 (p = .023), $2,493 versus $3,500 in 2017 (p = .013), and $2,000 versus $3,000 in 2018 (p = .011). Women earned less than men for industry-related research (5.4%-8% of total paid), consulting (11%-17.4%), honoraria (6%-14.9%), grants (4%-41.2%), royalties and licenses (.1%-1.2%), faculty/speaker roles (11.6%-16.4%), and services other than consulting (8.4%-28.9%). The largest single payments for a research activity during the four-year period were $147,624 to a woman and $955,733 to a man. Compared with 2013-2014, the proportion of women who received industry payments rose for royalties/licenses (p = .019), consulting (p = .012), honoraria (p = .007), faculty/speaker participation, (p = .007), and services other than consulting (p = .007).
To continue fostering growth for women in ophthalmology, it is crucial to acknowledge gender disparities and support the representation of women in industry partnerships, said the authors, especially in research endeavors.
The original article can be found here.