The article was originally published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers examined data available from the Department of Justice detailing the payouts of five major device implant manufacturers to orthopedic surgeons. The five were required to report these figures for the first two years and three companies continued to report the figures voluntarily for the next two years.
In 2007, the five device companies made 1,041 payments to 939 orthopedic surgeons, which is only about 4 percent of orthopedic surgeons in the United States. The payments were worth more than $198 million. The following year, device companies made 568 payments to 526 orthopedic surgeons totaling only $228 million (which includes royalty buyouts of $109 million from one company).
Among the three companies that reported data for all four years, payments to surgeons dropped from $212,740 in 2007 to $193,943 in 2008 on average. However, payments recovered to $246,867 in 2009 and dropped again to $233,108 in 2010. The proportion of surgeons with academic affiliations receiving payments grew from 39.4 percent in 2007 to 44.9 percent in 2008, with similar patterns continuing through 2010.
Related Articles on Orthopedic Surgeons:
Resurgens Orthopaedics’ Dr. Steven Wertheim Receives Atlanta Healthcare Leader Recognition
AAOS Joins U.S. Bone and joint Initiative to Tackle Cost of Musculoskeletal Care
Controversy Sparks Over Physical Therapist Employment at Medical Groups
