Comparison of Conflicts of Interest among Published Hernia Researchers Self-Reported with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Open Payments Database.

Abstract

Many healthcare providers have financial interests and relationships with healthcare companies. To maintain transparency, investigators are expected to disclose their conflicts of interest (COIs). Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services developed the Open Payment database of COIs reported by industry. We hypothesize that there is discordance between industry-reported and physician self-reported COIs in ventral hernia publications.