Dr. Daniel G. Clair, chair of vascular surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, commented that contrary to what the analysis suggests, it isn’t easy to distinguish between research dollars and nonresearch dollars and between payments made to an institution versus those made to an individual.
“I work for a facility where I am a salaried professional and contracts for some of these things are negotiated between the institution and the company. I’m completely left out of it, but because I happen to be the individual who provides services, it looks like that money is coming to me,” he said.
To provide more transparency in payments, Dr. Blebea said he would recommend quantitative disclosure of industry payments at scientific meetings and in publications with reporting of a range of payments, such as less than $1,000, $1,000-$5,000, $5,001-$10,000, and more than $10,000, rather than specific amounts.
Dr. Blebea and Dr. Pipinos reported having no relevant financial disclosures. Dr. Clair reported serving on the data and safety monitoring board for Bard, as an advisory board member for Boston Scientific and Medtronic, and as a consultant for Endologix.