UAB Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Professor Brent Ponce, M.D., won first place for his poster: “Gender Inequality: Is There a Bias in Industry Compensations?” in the category Critical Issues at the of the virtual 2020 American Orthopaedic Association (AOA) Annual Leadership Meeting.

This is the second year in a row that a faculty member from the department has won this category. There were 12 poster categories overall and several hundred submissions. Other poster categories included foot and ankle, spine, shoulder and elbow, sports medicine and more.

This year, the meeting was conducted entirely virtually, including the poster presentation section. The AOA partnered with iPosters to host a platform for the e-posters. Poster presenters were able to log in and create an e-poster that could be reviewed by all attendees and members of the AOA.

The purpose of Ponce's study was to compare payments in the CMS Open Payment Database according to gender in a 10% random sample of all physicians providers from 2014-2017. A total of 3,624,604 industry payment transactions for a total compensation of $2,121,953,115 was identified over the 4 year period for 66,388 physicians (68% male/32% female). Median annual compensation for male physicians was $170 compared to $111 for female physicians (p<0.001). The proportion of males receiving more than $1,000,000 in compensation was twice that of females (0.8% Vs. 0.4%; p<0.001). The median annual compensation for royalties/licensing was $20,226 for males and $717 for females (p=0.005). Compensation gender differences were greater for surgeons (men 2.2 times higher than women) than for non-surgeons (men 1.4 times higher than women). The findings from the CMS OPD information identified that gender inequality in physician compensation from pharmaceutical and medical device companies exists. The data provides a snapshot of the medical profession’s relationship with industry and can be used as a reference point to monitor changes over time.

Although poster winners were announced, the 2020 AOA meeting will continue over the course of the next few weeks. The conference is ACGME accredited and will serve as a continuing medical education opportunity for physicians, who will advance their knowledge of orthopaedic surgery and science and learn new practices that can be implemented to improve patient care.