Just 8.2% of physicians receiving research payments in 2018 from some of the top medical device companies were women, according to an analysis of Medical Design & Outsourcing‘s annual Big 100 and CMS Open Payments data.
Among the top 20 medical device companies that fund research by U.S. physicians are 3M, Medtronic, GE Healthcare, Royal Philips (Philips Electronics), Becton Dickinson, Stryker, Boston Scientific, Abbott and Zimmer Biomet. Collectively, those companies doled out $2.7 million to 195 doctors last year, but only 16 were women, who received a collective $322,000.
Women averaged 10.9% of those payments between the nine companies that reported payments on the CMS website. Here’s a closer look at the funding:
- 3M paid $191,255 in research payments to nine physicians in 2018. Two physicians (22.2%) were women and received $68,000 (35.6%).
- None of the 34 researchers backed by $412,000 from Zimmer Biomet were women.
- Of the seven doctors funded by $128,000 from Medtronic, only one was a woman (14.3%), who received $2,025 (1.6%).
- GE Healthcare also backed a single female physician out of seven total physicians (14.3%), putting up $825, or 9.3%, of its total $8,900 spend.
- Royal Philips (dba Philips Electronics) made $208,000 in research payments to 22 physicians in 2018, but just $26,000 (12.5%) to three women (13.6%).
- Becton, Dickinson’s $400,000 in research payments to 25 doctors included three women (12%), who received a total of $75,000 (18.8%).
- Three of 31 physicians (9.7%) funded by Stryker were women, who divvied up $133,700 (16.7%).
- Boston Scientific backed one woman physician of 13 total (7.7%), paying $11,200 (30.1%) of the total $37,000.
- Of the 47 physicians funded by $656,000 from Abbott, two (4.3%) were women who received a total of $4,900, or 0.7%.
- Johnson & Johnson, Fresenius, Siemens Healthineers, Cardinal Health, Danaher, EssilorLuxottica, Baxter, Owens & Minor, Henry Schein, B. Braun Melsungen and Alcon were excluded from this analysis.
