Gender Differences in Reimbursement Among Orthopaedic Surgeons: A Cross-sectional Analysis of Medicare Claims

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Inequalities involving women across orthopaedic subspecialties continue to be highlighted in the literature. Previous analyses exploring reimbursement differences between sexes have not controlled for confounding factors or have been limited by small sample sizes. Our study used Medicare data on a national sample of orthopaedic surgeons to better evaluate these disparities. METHODS: This cross-sectional analysis used publicly available data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Physician and Other Supplier Public Use File. Using each provider's National Provider Identifier number, this data set was linked to the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System downloadable file and the 2019 National Provider Compare Database. Mean differences were calculated using the Welch t -test. Multivariate linear regression analysis was conducted to determine the effect of sex on total Medicare payments per physician, controlling for years in practice, practice diversity, clinical productivity, and subspecialty. RESULTS: Nineteen thousand six orthopaedic surgeons were included in our analysis. Of these providers, 1,058 were female (5.6%) and 17,948 were male (94.4%). Male orthopaedic surgeons billed an average of 19.40 unique billing codes per provider and female orthopaedic surgeons billed 14.4 per provider ( P < 0.001). Female orthopaedic surgeons billed an average of 1,245.5 services per physician while male orthopaedic surgeons billed 2,360.7 services per physician. The mean difference in payment between male and female orthopaedic surgeons was $59,748.7 ( P < 0.001). Multivariate linear regression showed that female sex was a significant predictor of lower total yearly Medicare reimbursement ( P < 0.001). DISCUSSION: These findings emphasize the need for additional efforts to help ensure reimbursement differences do not deter women from pursuing orthopaedics. Healthcare organizations should use this information to ensure equal salary negotiating power among their employees while additionally addressing potential biases and misconceptions related to referrals and surgeon aptitude, respectively.