Race- and sex-based variation in industry research and general payments to medical oncologists in the United States.

Authors

null

Imraan Jan

Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ

Imraan Jan , Brian De , Young Suk Kwon , Robert Freeman , Kelsey Larkin , Shyamala Subramanian , Prathyusha Pandu , Amy Song , Meredith Young , Mutlay Sayan , Ethan B. Ludmir , Bruce George Haffty , Malcolm David Mattes

Organizations

Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, Department of Radiation Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Research Funding

No funding received

Background: Industry partnerships offer financial incentives, prestige, and can facilitate career advancement in oncology. However, not all physicians may have equal access to these opportunities. We hypothesized that physicians who are underrepresented in the medical oncology workforce based on race, ethnicity, and gender receive less industry funding. Methods: All US medical oncologists (MOs) who received ≥1 industry research payment between 2016 and 2020 according to the Open Payments database were included in this retrospective study. Information extracted from Open Payments included MO’s name, institution, research payments (i.e. funding for a research project where the physician is a Principle Investigator), and general payments (i.e. fees not associated with research, such as consulting and travel fees). Additional web searches were conducted using institutional websites, NPPES NPI registry, LinkedIn, Doximity, Scopus, and NIH RePORTER to determine each MO’s race, ethnicity, sex, academic rank, degrees, h-index, institutional NIH research funding rank, and individual receipt of NIH funding. Log-linear regression was performed to identify associations of both industry and general payment data. Results: Of 7,542 physicians meeting inclusion criteria, 69% were male, 65% White, 29% Asian, 2% Black, and 4% Hispanic, which is comparable to the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile figures for MO. The median sum research payment and general payment was $134,857 and $11,537 per physician respectively. Significantly higher mean research payments were associated with an MS (+72%; P = 0.003) or PhD degree (+30%; P = 0.009), h-index (+3%; P < 0.001), top 50 institution rank by NIH funding (+44%; P < 0.001), and associate professor rank (+95%; P < 0.001). Significantly lower mean research payment were observed for Black physicians (-36%; P = 0.022) and those with non-academic affiliation (-47%; P < 0.001). No significant association was observed between sex and research payment. Significantly higher mean general payments were associated with male sex (+46%; P < 0.001), MS degree (+171%; P < 0.001), h-index (+2%; P < 0.001), and Asian race (+72%; P < 0.001). Significantly lower mean general payments were associated with an affiliation with a non-academic practice (-31%; P = 0.012). Conclusions: Black physicians received smaller sums of industry research payments compared to White physicians. Female sex was associated with decreased general payments compared to male sex. Further exploring the underlying mechanisms determining access to industry payments may help facilitate greater equity and inclusivity in oncology.

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2022 ASCO Annual Meeting

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Professional Development and Education Advances

Track

Medical Education and Professional Development

Sub Track

Workplace Disparities/Issues

Citation

J Clin Oncol 40, 2022 (suppl 16; abstr 11050)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2022.40.16_suppl.11050

Abstract #

11050

Poster Bd #

241

Abstract Disclosures

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