Male physicians received higher medical industry payments compared with female physicians
From 2013 to 2019, male physicians received significantly higher payments from medical industry companies compared with female physicians across all specialties and academic ranks, published results showed.
Using the Open Payments database, Brittany G. Sullivan, MD, and colleagues performed a retrospective, population-based cross-sectional study on 1,050 payments to the five highest-earning male physicians and the five highest-earning female physicians from each of the 15 highest-grossing medical supply companies in the U.S. According to the study, outcome measures included total general payments from companies in the medical industry and trends in payments for male vs. female physicians from January 2013 to January 2019.
Overall, 96.9% (n = 1,017) of the five highest-earning physicians were men, while 3.1% (n = 33) were women. During the study period, male physicians were paid a mean of $1,226,377, while female physicians were paid of mean of $41,320. Through multivariate analysis, researchers determined male gender was “significantly associated” with higher medical industry payments. Researchers also noted the payment gap between male and female physicians increased from $54,343 to $166,778 during the study period.
“Despite increased scrutiny over the past decade with regard to equity, we demonstrated that the industry payment gap increased over time,” the researchers wrote in the study. “Future studies are needed to elucidate why the gender gap in medical industry payments continues to widen despite national recognition and more women in medicine,” they concluded.
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