U.S. physicians often receive payments from medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies. New research in JAMA found a connection between receiving such payments and using specific devices—should the industry be concerned? 

Researchers explored data from nearly 2,500 AFib ablation patients, sharing their findings in JAMA Cardiology.

"This finding suggests racial and gender bias as a potential contributor to the organ acceptance decision-making process," researchers wrote in JAMA.

Only orthopedic surgeons and neurologists/psychiatrists received more industry payments from 2013 to 2022 than cardiologists. Also, the two prescription medications associated with the most physician payments were a blood thinner and an anticoagulant. 

When Boston Scientific’s coronary DCB gained approval in the United States, it was a moment the country's cardiologists had been looking forward to for years. The cardiologists who researched the device have now detailed their findings, highlighting the "unmet need" this technology is addressing.