Disparities Dramatic in Male-Female Physician Fees

Where is the outrage?

The Wall Street Journal, in a report by Ed Silverman, details how manufacturers of drugs pay the women physicians who speak, consult and do research for them, considerably less than they pay their male counterparts for the very same activities.

The discrepancies in the treatment of male and female medical professionals are detailed in a report by Plos One titled Gender Differences in Physicians’ Financial Ties to Industry: A Study of National Disclosure Data.

Do men eat more than women? If not, why were they paid more than $41 more per meal than were women or nearly $2, 800 (on average)more for speaking engagements, and $2, 400 more than women for consulting?

The Plos One study analyzed publicly reported financial relationships among 747, 603 physicians and 432 pharmaceutical, device and biomaterials companies in 2011. The investigators found that of the $17.9 million that drug makers paid to nearly 221, 000 physicians in 2011, just 24.9% went to women.

The authors of the study were concerned about their own findings. Susannah Rose, the lead author, who is also Director of Bioethics Research and Policy at Cleveland Clinic and is an assistant professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University, said “It is troubling because this may place women at a distinct disadvantage.”

Other earlier studies have found that women also receive less funding from the National Institutes of Health than do men.

Silverman reported that a 2008 study found gender differences existed in the median annual funding amount requested—a $35, 000 disparity—and in the median annual funding amount awarded, a nearly $27, 000 difference. Female physicians, on average, received fewer total dollars—nearly $3, 600—per person than did men.

A study finding that surprised the researchers was the fact that the more prestigious institutions, such as academic medical centers with great reputations—had some of the greatest disparities.

The authors of the study did not offer reasons for the disparities. Silverman reports that in their paper they speculate that “industry could be biased; women may not work in medical specialties where the most research is conducted; industry may believe audiences at educational events respond better to male speakers; or women may be less inclined to work with industry.”