Analysis of the Distribution of Private Research Funding to Sports Medicine Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Abstract

Background: The Physician Payments Sunshine Act mandated the public reporting of all industry payments above a $10 value that are disbursed to physicians in the United States. Understanding the pattern of research payments among sports medicine orthopaedic surgeons (SMOSs) may help uncover potential biases and conflicts of interest, thereby promoting transparency and ethical conduct in musculoskeletal research.

Purpose: To identify trends in private research payment distribution among SMOSs and to explore potential sources of disparity in the disbursement of research-related private funding.

Study design: Cross-sectional study.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of the Open Payments Database was conducted between 2015 and 2021 to identify research payments disbursed to SMOSs. The h-index, number of publications, and years since completion of residency/fellowship training were collected from Scopus and the affiliated institution profile. Descriptive statistics were conducted for payments at the individual surgeon level. Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were utilized to assess the difference in median payment disbursement by surgeon sex. Nonparametric analyses were performed to identify predictors for payment.

Results: During the study period, $81,268,687 in private research payments from 79 different industry companies was disbursed to 578 sports medicine surgeons at 397 different institutions. Sports medicine projects represented 23% of all orthopaedic payments, growing from 18% in 2015 to 26% in 2021. Male surgeons comprised 96% of all SMOSs receiving funding and collected 98% of the research payments. There was no statistically significant difference between the median male or female payment. However, the h-index, number of publications, and number of years in practice were all significantly associated with greater median private research payment in a univariate quantile model. The h-index and years out of training were positively associated with greater private research payment in the multivariate model.

Conclusion: There was no statistically significant difference in median payment to SMOSs between sexes. A higher h-index and more years out of training were associated with receiving larger private research payments.