Introduction: This study aims to characterize the nature of these payments made to transplant surgeons over the past six years of Open Payments Program (OPP) data, to better understand the nature of physician-industry relationships within transplant surgery.

Methods: The study sample included all physicians (categorized under Urology, Surgery, Pediatric Urology, and Pediatric Surgery) who received at least one non-research payment as transplant surgeons to the OPP. To capture transplant surgeons who may be listed under their pipeline specialty, the American Society of Transplant Surgeons member directory as of January 2021 was queried. Physicians identified as residents in the ASTS member directory were excluded from analysis. Data was analyzed between 2014 and 2019.

Results: Total number of transplant surgeons receiving payment 1335. Total amount in dollars paid, $15,661,536. The mean payment was $416.58 (SD $1684.60) and the median payment was $50.00 (IQR $17.44-$151.0). The top three categories include $3,910,288 (26.2%) paid for consulting fees, $4,668,147 (31.3%) paid for non-consulting fees (speaker and vendor fees), and $3,035,045 (20.3%) paid for travel and lodging. OPTN Region 5 received the most payment at 19.3%, and Region 1 received the least payment at 1.5%. The top five companies making payments include Intuitive Surgical Inc, Gilead, Norvartis, Astellas, Genzyme.

Conclusions: There is a considerable financial relationship between medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers and transplant surgeons. The majority of non-research payments to transplant surgeons by industry sponsors were for non-consulting services. There exist regional differences in the amount paid by industry to transplant surgeons in regards to median and total industry payment amounts.