Nature and Magnitude of Industry Payments to Fellowship… : JAAOS – Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of orthopaedic surgery FPDs during 2021. Data were obtained from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Profiles of orthopaedic surgery FPDs were obtained for ACGME-accredited and non-ACGME–accredited training programs. Nonresearch industry payments from 2015 to 2021 were extracted and adjusted for inflation. Temporal trends were analyzed through the calculation of compound annual growth rates. Comparisons were made with nonparametric tests. Results: Of 600 orthopaedic surgery FPDs, 596 received industry funding (99%), which totaled $340.6 million over the study period. A trend toward greater total annual industry payments over the study period was observed (compound annual growth rate = 3.3%, P = 0.009). Most industry payments were for royalties or licensing ($246.6 million, 72.4%) and consulting fees ($53.6 million, 15.7%). The median total payment per orthopaedic