Amir Karni, MD
Surgery · Houston, TXNPI 1316982606
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $16,000 of the $25,748 with a category attached, or 62.1%. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 80.3% of it on its own, with 9 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $17,872 and has fallen 98.9% since, to $190 in 2025.
Across 93 payments — averaging $276.86 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$21K
- Davol Inc.$2K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$1K
- Organogenesis Inc.$1K
- Johnson & Johnson$790
- TELA Bio, Inc.$179
- plus $79 from 4 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$1,9007%
- Travel & lodging$4,53718%
- Food & beverage$3,31213%
- Education$16,00062%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Surgical | 31 | $20,672 |
| Davol Inc. | 26 | $1,928 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 6 | $1,069 |
| Organogenesis Inc. | 2 | $1,032 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 14 | $790 |
| TELA Bio, Inc. | 10 | $179 |
| Aroa Biosurgery Incorporated | 1 | $32 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 1 | $25 |
| Merck | 1 | $13 |
| Kerecis Limited | 1 | $9 |
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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$19,933
- Harmonic$1,136
- PuraPly$1,000
- PHASIX$583
- Phasix Mesh$454
- XENAB$274
- Echelon Flex$263
- Enseal$230
- PROGEL$145
- ETHICON$133
- ECHELON ENDOPATH$133
- VISTASEAL$119
- EVARREST$119
- DERMABOND PRINEO$111
How this compares
$25,748 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 1,830 surgery 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 99 | $537 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in Houston
- James SuliburkHouston$161K
- Funda MericHouston$141K
- Jonathan StahlHouston$105K
- Richard KnightHouston$103K
- Tanyaradzwa KajeseHouston$92K
- Michael HarkinsTomball$2.7M
- Douglas StoddardAustin$1.4M
- Steven FassAustin$989K
- Vineet ChoudhryAustin$851K
- Andy HawthorneRound Rock$843K
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.