Physician characteristics in the NPPES database and who received payments shown from the Open Payments database. Data are number (%) of physicians (%) unless stated otherwise
| Physician characteristics and specialty | Total No of physicians in NPPES | No of physicians who received industry payments between 2018 and 2020 | ||
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||
| No of physicians | 880 589 | 350 718 | 345 989 | 267 805 |
| Gender: | ||||
| Male | 560 707 (63.7) | 239 835 (68.4) | 235 633 (68.1) | 185 879 (69.4) |
| Female | 319 882 (36.3) | 110 883 (31.6) | 110 356 (31.9) | 81 926 (30.6) |
| Primary care: | ||||
| Internal medicine | 140 202 (15.9) | 54 336 (15.5) | 53 590 (15.5) | 41 719 (15.6) |
| Family medicine | 123 661 (14.0) | 46 804 (13.4) | 45 110 (13.0) | 34 870 (13.0) |
| Pediatrics | 62 959 (7.2) | 21 030 (6.0) | 20 362 (5.9) | 14 642 (5.5) |
| Hospitalist | 9307 (1.1) | 2780 (0.8) | 2925 (0.9) | 2119 (0.8) |
| Surgery: | ||||
| Obstetrics/gynecology | 44 310 (5.0) | 21 629 (6.2) | 21 107 (6.1) | 16 375 (6.1) |
| General | 36 635 (4.2) | 17 934 (5.1) | 17 966 (5.2) | 14 187 (5.3) |
| Orthopedic | 28 274 (3.2) | 17 362 (5.0) | 17 453 (5.0) | 14 675 (5.5) |
| Otolaryngology | 11 138 (1.3) | 6056 (1.7) | 6105 (1.8) | 4707 (1.8) |
| Urology | 10 941 (1.2) | 6780 (1.9) | 6693 (1.9) | 5699 (2.1) |
| Neurosurgery | 5921 (0.7) | 3455 (1.0) | 3434 (1.0) | 2882 (1.1) |
| Plastic | 4855 (0.6) | 2945 (0.8) | 2932 (0.9) | 2376 (0.9) |
| Thoracic and vascular | 3920 (0.5) | 2292 (0.7) | 2246 (0.7) | 1892 (0.7) |
| Colorectal | 1251 (0.1) | 781 (0.2) | 776 (0.2) | 620 (0.2) |
| Specialists: | ||||
| Emergency medicine | 53 637 (6.1) | 11 340 (3.2) | 11 380 (3.3) | 7867 (2.9) |
| Psychiatry | 52 469 (6.0) | 15 270 (4.4) | 15 084 (4.4) | 10 793 (4.0) |
| Anesthesiology | 42 482 (4.8) | 13 379 (3.8) | 13 391 (3.9) | 8918 (3.3) |
| Radiology | 30 373 (3.5) | 7325 (2.1) | 7303 (2.1) | 4857 (1.8) |
| Cardiology | 22 362 (2.5) | 14 716 (4.2) | 14 402 (4.2) | 12 438 (4.6) |
| Ophthalmology | 20 781 (2.4) | 11 969 (3.4) | 12 013 (3.5) | 10 388 (3.9) |
| Pediatric specialty | 19 239 (2.2) | 5617 (1.6) | 5523 (1.6) | 3637 (1.4) |
| Neurology | 15 677 (1.8) | 7948 (2.3) | 7979 (2.3) | 6334 (2.4) |
| Rehabilitation | 14 016 (1.6) | 3945 (1.1) | 3842 (1.1) | 2833 (1.1) |
| Dermatology | 13 669 (1.6) | 7791 (2.2) | 7805 (2.3) | 6682 (2.5) |
| Gastroenterology | 12 906 (1.5) | 8262 (2.4) | 7926 (2.3) | 6635 (2.5) |
| Hematology and oncology | 11 527 (1.3) | 6732 (1.9) | 6472 (1.9) | 5368 (2.0) |
| Nephrology | 8457 (1.0) | 4786 (1.4) | 4833 (1.4) | 3828 (1.4) |
| Pulmonology | 7289 (0.8) | 4041 (1.2) | 3977 (1.2) | 3386 (1.3) |
| Infectious diseases | 6065 (0.7) | 2512 (0.7) | 2491 (0.7) | 1957 (0.7) |
| Endocrinology | 5910 (0.7) | 3359 (1.0) | 3275 (1.0) | 2679 (1.0) |
| Rheumatology | 4794 (0.5) | 2749 (0.8) | 2651 (0.8) | 2249 (0.8) |
| Allergy and immunology | 4240 (0.5) | 2407 (0.7) | 2335 (0.7) | 1975 (0.7) |
| Others* | 51 322 (5.8) | 12 386 (3.5) | 12 608 (3.6) | 8218 (3.1) |
NPPES=National Plan and Provider Enumeration System.
*Others include surgical oncology, oral surgery, radio oncology, pathology, and nuclear medicine.