SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Opioid Pharmaceutical Company Funding to Hospitalists and Hospitalists' Prescribing of Opioids on Discharge

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This study examined whether opioid manufacturer payments to hospitalists were associated with hospitalists’ opioid prescribing at discharge. Prior research has linked industry payments to outpatient prescribing, but hospitalists had not been studied.<br /><br />Using Medicare Part B claims, Open Payments data, and Medicare Part D Prescriber File data from 2015–2023, the authors identified a sample of U.S. hospitalists and measured two exposures: the number of payments and the dollar amount of payments from opioid manufacturers. The outcome was the percentage of discharge prescriptions that were opioids each year. Linear regression models assessed whether payments in one year were associated with opioid prescribing in the following year.<br /><br />The study found that payments to hospitalists from opioid manufacturers increased over time, with the number of hospitalists receiving payments rising 28-fold from 2020 to 2023. The number of payments was associated with a small but statistically significant increase in opioid prescribing in the subsequent year: 0.18 percentage points (95% CI 0.065–0.30, p=0.002). In contrast, the total dollar amount of payments was not associated with opioid prescribing.<br /><br />The authors estimate that, based on discharge medication volume, payments made in 2023 may have contributed to an additional 10,000–28,000 opioid prescriptions in 2024.<br /><br />Overall, the study concludes that financial ties between opioid manufacturers and hospitalists are increasing and may influence prescribing behavior. The findings suggest that conflict-of-interest policies should consider the number of payments, not just the dollar value, and that industry relationships with hospitalists deserve closer scrutiny, especially as public funding of physicians becomes less secure.

Asset Subtitle

Daniel Smithers

Meta Tag

Author List Daniel Smithers, Shoshana J. Herzig, Timothy Anderson

Category Research

Concept Opioid Manufacturer Payment

Concept Opioid Prescribing

Concept Hospitalist

Concept Billing Frequency

Concept Hospital Discharge

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Brigham & Women's Hospital

Presenting Author Daniel Smithers

Track Other

Keywords

opioid manufacturers

hospitalists

hospital discharge prescribing

industry payments

Open Payments data

Medicare claims

opioid prescriptions

conflict of interest

financial ties

prescribing behavior

Opioid Manufacturer Payment

Opioid Prescribing

Hospitalist

Billing Frequency

Hospital Discharge