Disclosure of Conflict of Interest at a Professional Surgical Society Annual Meeting

Introduction Relationships with industry may create a potential conflict of interest (COI). Disclosure of COI is essential for integrity of educational programming. In 2013, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) developed the OpenPayments™ database to facilitate reporting, visibility, and accountability for US physicians. While the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) mandate disclosing relationships with industry, we sought to investigate only significant potential COIs. We hypothesize that most authors disclose significant potential COIs appropriately and those that do not disclose only have minor potential COI. Methods Payment information for authors at the 2023 SAGES meeting was extracted from the OpenPayments™ database (https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov). Authors not initially found were additionally searched via Google, LinkedIn, affiliation websites, and/or state medical board websites. National Provider Identifier (NPI) numbers were utilized to verify identities as needed. We defined significant potential COI as total payments > $10,000 for two years prior to the meeting. Authors were divided as disclosing COI (Disclosed) versus not disclosing COI (Not Disclosed), the latter including those with no mention of COI, stated "no relevant COI", or stated "no COI." Results There were 792 authors in 2023 and 296 eligible authors. The proportion of disclosed authors in 2023 was 16% (47/296); the incidence of significant potential COI was 25% (73/296). The average potential COI payment received was $104,284 but did not statistically differ between the Disclosed vs. Not Disclosed groups; however, only 49% (36/74) of authors that had potential COI were actually in the Disclosed group. The highest paid author in the Not Disclosed group received over $868,000. Conclusion The majority of authors appropriately disclosed potential COIs at the 2023 SAGES meeting. Contrary to our hypothesis, Not Disclosed authors may still have potential COIs. Disclosing the mere existence of a relationship seems insufficient as some authors received large sums of money. All presentations should include the dollar amounts for full disclosure of potential COI for future programs.