Alex Cruz, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Austin, TXNPI 1407242308
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 396 payments — averaging $105.96 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medtronic$13K
- Abbott$5K
- Spineart USA Inc$4K
- Carlsmed, Inc.$4K
- Stryker$3K
- 4web, Inc.$3K
- plus $10K from 18 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$3,1007%
- Travel & lodging$12,70030%
- Food & beverage$25,97962%
- Education$1800%
Most of this is food and beverage — typically meals provided during product presentations at a clinic or hospital. Nationally that is the single largest category of reported payments by count.
General payments by program year
Who reported the general payments
Companies are grouped under their corporate parent — a single manufacturer often files under several CMS reporting entities. Research and ownership payments are counted separately and are not in this table.
| Company | Payments | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Medtronic | 159 | $12,755 |
| Abbott | 56 | $4,914 |
| Spineart USA Inc | 13 | $4,424 |
| Carlsmed, Inc. | 10 | $3,997 |
| Stryker | 42 | $3,185 |
| 4web, Inc. | 41 | $3,086 |
| 7d Surgical ULC | 5 | $1,814 |
| Globus Medical | 11 | $1,614 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 10 | $984 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 16 | $919 |
| Acuity Surgical Devices, LLC | 1 | $812 |
| Seaspine Orthopedics Corporation | 5 | $797 |
| Spinal Simplicity, LLC | 8 | $700 |
| Providence Medical Technology, Inc. | 5 | $612 |
| Centinel Spine, LLC | 1 | $428 |
| Republic Spine | 2 | $307 |
| Curiteva, Inc. | 1 | $250 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $113 |
| Ossur Americas, Inc. | 4 | $95 |
| Zavation Medical Products, LLC | 1 | $69 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 1 | $33 |
| Innovation Technologies Inc | 1 | $21 |
| Lundbeck LLC | 1 | $21 |
| Augmedics Inc. | 1 | $11 |
What the payments were tied to
Products named in the reported payments. Only payments of $100 or more are attributed here — the typical reported payment nationally is a meal worth about $16, and listing those product-by-product would be noise.
- UNID_PASS$4,308
- aprevo$3,901
- PROCLAIM$2,812
- 7D Surgical System$1,814
- SPINE TRUSS SYSTEM$1,579
- XLIF$1,161
- ANTERALIGN SPINAL SYSTEM WITH TITAN NANOLOCK SURFACE TECHNOLOGY$854
- CD HORIZON SPINAL SYSTEM$700
- CASCADIA INTERBODY SYSTEM$689
- HA MINUTEMAN G3-R$593
- STEALTHSTATION S8 PLATFORM$592
- MAZOR X SYSTEM$576
- CONDUIT$559
- CAPRI CORPECTOMY CAGE SYSTEM$500
- INFINITY OCCIPITOCERVICAL UPPER THORACIC SYSTEM$451
- PRODISC L$428
- ETERNA$415
- CATALYFT PL EXPANDABLE INTERBODY SYSTEM$366
- VIPER$335
- PRIMEADVANCED SURESCAN$292
How this compares
$41,960 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 207 orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Texas.
See all orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Texas →
Medicare billing
What this is not: this is the amount Original Medicare Part B allowed for services this provider billed in 2024. It is not their income. It excludes Medicare Advantage — now more than half of all Medicare enrollment — along with Medicaid and all commercial insurance, and it is gross practice revenue before staff, rent, supplies and malpractice premiums. CMS also suppresses any figure covering ten or fewer patients, so low-volume providers appear smaller than they are.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Gabapentin | 161 | $1,077 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 147 | $1,039 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 144 | $983 |
| Ondansetron OdtOndansetron | 76 | $594 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 38 | $434 |
| Methylprednisolone | 44 | $325 |
| Pregabalin | 22 | $289 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 88 | $287 |
| Acetaminophen-CodeineAcetaminophen With Codeine | 15 | $173 |
| Celecoxib | 13 | $109 |
| Methocarbamol | 15 | $104 |
| Meloxicam | 50 | $86 |
| Alprazolam | 18 | $38 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery of the spine in Austin
- Randall DryerAustin$2.9M
- Craig KuhnsAustin$2.7M
- Richard WuppermanAustin$808K
- Eeric TruumeesAustin$375K
- Matthew GeckAustin$100K
- David WimberleyHouston$2.2M
- Jeffrey PhelpsNorth Richland Hills$1.9M
- Eric WieserArlington$1.5M
- Richard GuyerPlano$1.3M
- Andrew ClavennaDallas$1.3M
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Billing: Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners, data year 2024. Original Medicare Part B only.
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.