Table 3. Nature of Identified General Payment to Allopathic and Osteopathic Physicians by Specialty Category in 2015.
| Physician Recipients (N = 448 694) |
Specialty Categorya | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surgery (n = 110 604) |
Primary Care (n = 205 830) |
Specialists (n = 78 274) |
Interventionalists (n = 53 986) |
||
| Total value, US $ (%)b | 1 771 554 617 | 760 807 951 | 458 429 902 | 293 690 371 | 258 626 392 |
| Charitable contributionc | 4 109 815 (0.2) | 3 925 907 (0.5) | 110 984 (<0.01) | 28 362 (<0.01) | 44 562 (<0.01) |
| Servicesd | 471 834 618 (26.6) | 68 603 173 (9.0) | 189 264 724 (41.3) | 116 889 151 (39.8) | 97 077 569 (37.5) |
| Faculty or speaker | |||||
| Accredited CME | 23 420 919 (1.3) | 3 674 157 (0.5) | 4 578 827 (1.0) | 7 534 792 (2.6) | 7 633 142 (3.0) |
| Nonaccredited CME | 1 223 962 (0.1) | 215 089 (<0.01) | 196 661 (<0.01) | 331 235 (0.1) | 480 977 (0.2) |
| Consulting fee | 300 113 590 (16.9) | 118 504 348 (15.6) | 83 513 002 (18.2) | 50 980 019 (17.4) | 47 116 221 (18.2) |
| Ownership or investment intereste | 43 075 340 (2.4) | 28 079 824 (3.7) | 3 367 322 (0.7) | 1 017 250 (0.4) | 10 610 943 (4.1) |
| Education | 30 121 231 (1.7) | 20 111 662 (2.6) | 5 428 336 (1.2) | 2 561 926 (0.9) | 2 019 307 (0.8) |
| Entertainment | 158 296 (<0.01) | 56 440 (<0.01) | 21 299 (<0.01) | 47 644 (<0.01) | 32 912 (<0.01) |
| Food and beverage | 204 249 267 (11.5) | 41 092 929 (5.4) | 96 849 166 (21.1) | 31 191 000 (10.6) | 35 116 172 (13.6) |
| Gift | 1 768 828 (0.1) | 899 549 (0.1) | 344 481.62 (0.1) | 359 665 (0.1) | 165 132 (0.1) |
| Grant | 13 834 474 (0.8) | 2 589 716 (0.3) | 3 964 750 (0.9) | 4 063 514 (1.4) | 3 216 494 (1.2) |
| Honoraria | 30 462 932 (1.7) | 7 697 355 (1.0) | 7 784 261 (1.7) | 8 419 002 (2.9) | 6 562 314 (2.5) |
| Royalty or license | 483 751 540 (27.3) | 414 799 752 (54.5) | 11 341 736 (2.5) | 39 964 598 (13.6) | 17 645 454 (6.8) |
| Travel and lodging | 163 429 808 (9.2) | 50 558 050 (6.7) | 51 664 352 (11.3) | 30 302 212 (10.3) | 30 905 194 (12.0) |
a
The proportion of general payments in each nature-of-payment category was statistically significantly different when compared across all specialty categories (χ2 test, P < .001, 2-sided test).
b
Percent of all general payments within column.
c
Payment with tax-exempt status under the US Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
d
Compensation for services other than consulting, including serving as a faculty or as a speaker at a venue other than continuing medical education (CME).
e
Ownership or investment interests currently held by physicians, as well as ownership interests or investments that physicians have not yet exercised.