• Michael McCurdy, Tariq Z Issa, Yunsoo Lee, Alec Giakas, Aditya Mazmudar, Rajkishen Narayanan, Mason Sellig, Jose A Canseco, Alan S Hilibrand, Alexander R Vaccaro, Gregory G Schroeder, and Christopher K Kepler.
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Rothman Orthopaedic Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA.
• Spine. 2024 Oct 15; 49 (20): E331E337E331-E337.

Study DesignRetrospective cohort study.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to investigate associations between spine surgeon characteristics and different types of industry payments.Summary Of Background DataIndustry funding has played an important role in research and technological innovation within spine surgery, and industry payments supporting research have risen significantly in comparison to funding from other sources. To our knowledge, no studies have investigated academic spine surgeon characteristics associated with different categories of industry payments.Materials And MethodsA query was conducted of the North American Spine Society Spine Fellowship Directory from 2021 to 2022 to identify all orthopaedic or neurosurgical spine fellowship selection committee members. A PubMed search was utilized to collect information on surgeon academic productivity up through December 31, 2021. The authors then conducted a query on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services open payments website from 2015 to 2021 to collect payment records of spine fellowship selection committee members.ResultsOn linear regression analysis, total publications (8203, P <0.001), attending years (48,823, P <0.001), and publication rate (57,528, P =0.017) were associated with higher general payments. Southeast spine surgeons (80,043, P =0.038) and fellowship directors (79,874, P =0.007) were associated with more research payments. Total publications (7409, P <0.001), attending years (47,100, P <0.001), and publication rate (47,511, P =0.040) were significantly associated with higher royalties. Having a Twitter/X account (60,800, P =0.018), being a director (51,605, P =0.034), total publications (492, P <0.001), and publication rate (6444, P <0.001) were all predictive of greater consulting payments.ConclusionsSpine surgeons who are experienced, academically productive, fellowship directors, and engage with social media receive greater payments on average than their peers across various payment types. As industry influence continues to make its way into health care, experienced leaders in their respective fields will shoulder the responsibility to integrate private innovation in an effective and scientifically rigorous manner.Level Of Evidence3.Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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