Asokumar Buvanendran
Interventional Pain Medicine · Chicago, ILNPI 1598781676
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $37,193 of the $51,858 with a category attached, or 71.7%. 14 manufacturers reported payments, led by Vertex at 40.5% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $13,258 and has fallen 88.9% since, to $1,468 in 2025. Among interventional pain medicine clinicians in IL with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 271 payments — averaging $191.36 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Vertex$21K
- Medtronic$8K
- GRT US Holding, Inc.$8K
- Abbott$5K
- Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC$5K
- Pfizer$4K
- plus $893 from 8 others
Across 2 payments — averaging $64,958 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- Upjohn US 1 LLC$129K
- Abbott$639
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$37,19372%
- Speaking & faculty fees$6,05012%
- Travel & lodging$1,6393%
- Food & beverage$6,94213%
- Entertainment$340%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Vertex | 16 | $20,997 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 85 | $8,032 |
| GRT US Holding, Inc. | 1 | $8,000 |
| Abbott | 150 | $5,150 |
| Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC | 10 | $5,006 |
| Pfizer | 1 | $3,780 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 1 | $450 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 1 | $121 |
| Nevro Corp. | 1 | $118 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $75 |
| SPR Therapeutics, Inc | 1 | $58 |
| Smiths Medical ASD, Inc. | 1 | $34 |
| Avanos Medical | 1 | $20 |
| Curonix LLC | 1 | $18 |
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.
- Qutenza$8,000
- RESTORE$6,197
- MD-Other$3,500
- Infinity DBS Pulse Generators$1,125
- PROCLAIM$845
- ETERNA$776
- Dilaudid$750
- Proclaim Family of SCS IPGs$550
- INTELLIS ADAPTIVESTIM$261
- INTELLIS$176
- Proclaim IPG$175
- EXPAREL$121
- Senza Spinal Cord Stimulation System$118
How this compares
$51,858 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 93 interventional pain medicine providers in Illinois.
See all interventional pain medicine providers in Illinois →
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 | 71 | $1,945 |
| Celecoxib | 50 | $1,534 |
| Gabapentin | 81 | $1,267 |
| Duloxetine Hcl | 30 | $894 |
| Baclofen | 58 | $512 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 12 | $366 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 68 | $336 |
| Pregabalin | 14 | $204 |
| Meloxicam | 25 | $170 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 16 | $153 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 20 | $136 |
| Cephalexin | 16 | $114 |
| Ibuprofen | 11 | $103 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other interventional pain medicine in Chicago
- Timothy LubenowChicago$556K
- Sandeep AminChicago$430K
- Matthew JaycoxChicago$123K
- Hong VoChicago$91K
- Adam YoungChicago$29K
- Salman SagarwalaChicago$26K
- Kenneth CandidoChicago$15K
- Sameer ShahChicago$10K
- James DiesfeldChicago$10K
- Xiaoyuam XieChicago$8K
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.