DOCTOR on FEC filings: $111.7M, not the PHYSICIAN row

A shorter title, a separate pile of money

Some clinicians type DOCTOR rather than PHYSICIAN. Some Ph.D.s also type DOCTOR. The FEC does not adjudicate the degree. LobbyVault therefore ranks DOCTOR as its own industry key. The $111.7M figure is that string only.

Treating this row as 'all medical doctors' would over-include non-physician doctorate holders who used the word and under-include M.D.s who typed PHYSICIAN or a hospital name. The honest description is filing text.

A concentrated donor list

5,613 donors produced 155,557 DOCTOR contribution lines. That unique-donor count is much smaller than the PHYSICIAN row. The dollar total, $111.7M, is still nine figures because itemized gifts on a short list can add up. This page does not invent a per-donor average.

Party composition is not attached to the industry headline. Use the donor table for recipient committees.

Adjacent clinical labels

PHYSICIAN (the PHYSICIAN total on that page), DENTIST, and PSYCHOLOGIST are neighboring professional strings. Hospital, clinic, and 'self' employers are other keys. None of those dollars sit inside $111.7M.

Occupation breakdowns are useful when employer is a health system and occupation is DOCTOR — those receipts may harvest into a hospital row instead of this one, depending on the grouped field. Ph.D. holders and physicians share DOCTOR as English. The $111.7M total, 155,557 lines, and 5,613 donors do not split degrees. PHYSICIAN is the larger M.D.-leaning spelling, still not a license check. Hospital names continue to siphon clinicians out of both title rows.

Donor table

The DOCTOR donor table lists disclosed names and amounts. A large gift is a contribution record, not a clinical or legislative finding. LobbyVault does not infer motive from the title.

Name collisions are common with a short occupational word. Match on committee and date. Board certification is absent from FEC schedules. LobbyVault does not add it. A citation that says medical doctors must either use PHYSICIAN plus DOCTOR with a methods note or stay with the single string $111.7M for DOCTOR only.

Source

FEC.gov via LobbyVault: $111.7M, 155,557 contributions, 5,613 donors, top employer DOCTOR. Unitemized and non-federal filings are omitted.

Read committee pages for where receipts were reported. DENTIST and PSYCHOLOGIST stay out even when patients call those clinicians doctors. The stored word controls the bucket. Occupation pages show mixed hospital-plus-DOCTOR pairings that may have harvested to the hospital.

Degree titles the FEC does not adjudicate

DOCTOR can mean M.D., D.O., Ph.D., or a casual synonym for physician. The $111.7M total, 155,557 contribution lines, and 5,613 donors do not distinguish those degrees. PHYSICIAN remains the larger clinical-title row. Hospital names pull people out. Unitemized gifts and state races are omitted. LobbyVault does not check medical licenses against this string.

DENTIST and PSYCHOLOGIST stay separate. Occupation pages show when employer is a health system and occupation is DOCTOR — those lines may leave this row. Open the DOCTOR donor table for names and committees. The word is self-reported FEC text, not a NAICS health-care sector, from FEC.gov via LobbyVault. Unitemized copay-sized gifts, if they exist, never enter the 155,557 lines. State medical-society races are omitted. The source for $111.7M is FEC.gov via LobbyVault, not a NAICS health-care table. Use DOCTOR when the stored word is DOCTOR. Use PHYSICIAN when the stored word is PHYSICIAN. The $111.7M total is 5,613 donors and 155,557 lines on this spelling only. Ph.D. holders who typed DOCTOR are inside; M.D.s who typed PHYSICIAN or a hospital name are not. DENTIST and PSYCHOLOGIST stay out. Board certification is absent. Unitemized gifts and state races are omitted. Occupation pages show DOCTOR as occupation with a health-system employer, and those mixed lines may have harvested to the system. Cite $111.7M as the DOCTOR string from FEC.gov via LobbyVault, not a NAICS health-care sector and not a license-board census. Clinic websites saying doctor do not move a receipt into this row. The stored FEC word does. $111.7M, 5,613 donors, and 155,557 lines are DOCTOR as typed, including non-physician doctorate holders who used the word and excluding M.D.s who used PHYSICIAN or a hospital name. DENTIST stays out. PSYCHOLOGIST stays out. Occupation pages show hospital-plus-DOCTOR mixes that may have harvested to the hospital. FEC.gov via LobbyVault is the source, not a license board.

Questions

How much federal money is labeled DOCTOR?

The DOCTOR string totals $111.7M in itemized FEC receipts on LobbyVault, from 155,557 contributions and 5,613 donors. PHYSICIAN is a different row and is not included. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.

Are DOCTOR and PHYSICIAN the same in FEC data?

No. They are different free-text values. LobbyVault does not synonymize them. Neither is a NAICS health-care sector. People who typed a hospital name are in other rows. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.

Does DOCTOR include dentists and psychologists?

Only if they typed DOCTOR. DENTIST and PSYCHOLOGIST are separate industry labels with their own totals. The $111.7M figure is the DOCTOR string only. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.

How many unique DOCTOR donors are there?

LobbyVault counts 5,613 donors and 155,557 contribution lines. Repeat giving explains the larger receipt count. This is not a license-board census. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.