&&&&&&&&&&&Quan%fying*the*gender*reimbursement*gap*in*Nephrology**

Sadeem&Ali1,&Xiangming&Fang1,&Pankaj&Jawa1,&and&Tejas&Desai1,2.&&
1Division'of'Nephrology'&'Hypertension,'East'Carolina'University,'Greenville,'NC,'United'States'
2Nephrology'On>Demand,'h@p://goo.gl/mfziXG.'

Contact*Informa%on*
Sadeem&Ali;&Tejas&Desai&&
ALIS14@ECU.EDU;&tejas.p.desai@gmail.com&

Background*
The&2015&Medscape&
CompensaBon&Report&
suggests&that&female&
providers&earn&less&than&male&
providers&but&the&sample&size&
was&19,657;&only&1%&
Nephrologists.&To&analyze&the&
nancial&dispariBes,&we&
compared&total&Medicare&
reimbursements&paid&to&
males&and&females.&

Results*
We&analyzed&246,996&
providers&in&13&specialBes;&3%&
were&Nephrologists.&Female&
Nephrologists&were&
reimbursed&less&$41,776.96&
(unadjusted);&the&6th&worst&
reimbursement&dierenBal.&&
In&the&adjusted&analysis,&
female&Nephrologists&had&the&
worst&reimbursement&
dierenBal:&less&$17,971.66.&&
Moreover,&in&11&of&the&13&
specialBes&analyzed,&female&
physicians&had&a&staBsBcally&
lower&reimbursement&rate&
than&their&male&counterparts.&&&

Figure*1.**Characteris%cs*of*data*set*

Unadjusted!

Lower!

Upper!

Adjusted!

Lower!

Upper!

All!

$34,125.68!

$34,991.61 ! $33,259.76 ! $19,980.23! $20,599.45 !

$19,361.00 !

Cardiology!

$49,532.75!

$54,955.76 ! $44,109.75 ! $8,455.53!

$11,946.07 !

$4,964.98 !

Endocrinology!

$21,583.72!

$24,379.99 ! $18,787.44 ! $6,217.03!

$7,598.03 !

$4,836.03 !

Critical Care!

$21,161.13!

$28,712.74 ! $13,609.52 ! $4,532.58!

$8,341.91 !

$723.24 !

Family Practice!

$15,029.77!

$15,627.83 ! $14,431.70 ! $8,505.32!

$8,957.32 !

$8,053.33 !

Gastroenterology!

$26,556.29!

$28,968.12 ! $24,144.45 ! $4,931.95!

$6,055.77 !

$3,808.14 !

Hematology/Oncology!

$94,350.55!

$109,996 ! $78,705.13 ! $7,824.90!

$13,788.98 !

$1,860.82 !

Infectious Disease!

$19,176.82!

$23,177.82 ! $15,175.83 ! $6,849.35!

$9,562.13 !

$4,136.56 !

Internal Medicine!

$24,158.97!

$25,003.32 ! $23,314.62 ! $11,202.12! $11,792.19 !

$10,612.05 !

Nephrology!

$41,776.96!

$47,751.56 ! $35,802.36 ! $17,971.66! $22,675.94 !

$13,267.37 !

Hematology!

$52,257.03!

$86,317.14 ! $18,196.91 ! $10,160.85! $21,535.90 !

+$1,214.21 !

Medical Oncology!

$81,433.39! $106,482.80 !$56,383.97 ! $6,330.41!

$16,167.31 !

+$3506.49!

Rheumatology!

$85,356.80!

$98,925.86 ! $71,787.74 ! $17,127.52! $23,448.97 !

$10,806.07 !

Pulmonary!

$32,543.52!

$36,514.82 ! $28,572.21 ! $11,461.55! $13,870.45 !

$9,052.66 !

Table&1.&&Mean&female&reimbursement&decits&($).&Lower&&&Upper&refer&to&95%&Condence&Interval.&
Top&three&highest&decits:&1st&&&&&&&&2nd&&&&&&&&&3rd&&&&&&&&&Numbers&are&NegaBve&unless&otherwise&stated.&

Authors*have*no*conicts*of*interest*to*disclose.*

Methods*
We&obtained&reimbursement&
data&from&2014&Medicare&FeeU
ForUService&Provider&UBlizaBon&
and&Payment&Data&Physician&
Public&Use&File.&&We&
consolidated&all&
reimbursements&by&NPI&number&
and&categorized&them&by&
specialty&and&gender.&&We&
adjusted&reimbursement&
dierenBals&against&the&number&
of&Medicare&beneciaries&seen&
and&services&provided.&&We&
used&linear&regression&models&
to&compare&reimbursements&
collected&by&male&and&female&
providers.&

*Conclusion*
When&adjusted&for&the&number&
of&beneciaries&seen&and&
services&provided,&female&
Nephrologists&endure&the&
largest&reimbursement&gap&by&
gender&in&any&specialty.&&This&
gap&should&be&followed&yearly&
and&steps&should&be&considered&
to&help&close&this&gap.&