165 - Industry Relationships of Physiatrists

Objectives: Under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, payments made to physicians by drug and device manufacturers are publicly accessible. The Open Payments Database (OPD) houses yearly records of general payments, research payments, and physician ownership and investment. However, the industry relationships of physiatrists have not yet been analyzed. This study evaluates general payments made to physiatrists and characterizes high-payment physiatrists.

Design: The OPD for 2021 was analyzed to describe trends in general payments to physiatrists. High-payment physiatrists were identified as physicians whose primary specialty was listed as physical medicine and rehabilitation and received at least $12,000 USD. A google search was performed to determine gender, specialty, leadership role, and academic position.



Results: Of 4,625 physiatrists who received a general payment in 2021, 96 physiatrists received over $12,000 USD each. Together, these high-payment physiatrists earned a total payment of $3.7 million USD (median $24,981.12 USD; IQR $15,258.86 USD, $43,213.88 USD). Although these high-payment physiatrists comprised only 2.1% of all paid physiatrists, they received 61.4% of all general payments made to physiatrists. Most high-payment physiatrists were male (70.8%) and specialized in pain (40.6%). Many of these high-payment physiatrists held leadership and academic roles at their institutions (43.8% and 34.4%).

Conclusions: Males and pain specialists composed the majority of high-payment physiatrists. Furthermore, many occupied influential roles at their institutions. Although these conflicts of interests and their impact on physiatric practice have not yet been investigated, characterization of these financial relationships provides greater insight into the disproportionate distribution of general payments.