Atman Desai, MD
Neurological Surgery · Palo Alto, CANPI 1356444822
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $251,314 of the $304,983 with a category attached, or 82.4%. Stryker accounts for 82.4% of it on its own, with 10 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $116,962 and has fallen 75.9% since, to $28,137 in 2025. Among neurological surgery clinicians in CA 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 313 payments — averaging $974.39 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Stryker$251K
- Globus Medical$23K
- Carlsmed, Inc.$16K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$11K
- Alphatec Spine, Inc$2K
- VB Spine LLC$566
- plus $1K from 5 others
Across 7 payments — averaging $11,611 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.
- Carlsmed, Inc.$81K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$251,31482%
- Travel & lodging$46,31815%
- Food & beverage$7,3512%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stryker | 181 | $251,289 |
| Globus Medical(2 entities) | 37 | $22,930 |
| Carlsmed, Inc. | 24 | $15,908 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 13 | $11,488 |
| Alphatec Spine, Inc | 42 | $1,758 |
| VB Spine LLC | 2 | $566 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 8 | $450 |
| Depuy Synthes Products, Inc. | 1 | $203 |
| Dilon Technologies, Inc. | 1 | $168 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 3 | $148 |
| Icotec Medical Inc. | 1 | $76 |
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.
- EVEREST SPINAL SYSTEM$59,634
- OZARK CERVICAL PLATE SYSTEM$28,600
- XIA 3$21,450
- OASYS$21,450
- CAPRI CORPECTOMY CAGE SYSTEM$21,315
- AIRO$20,294
- YUKON OCT SPINAL SYSTEM$18,497
- CANYON RETRACTOR SYSTEMS$17,352
- CASCADIA INTERBODY SYSTEM$17,352
- ALIF$16,985
- MONTEREY AL$16,533
- aprevo$15,422
- 1688$11,163
- N/A$10,910
- EXPEDIUM$10,464
- MOUNTAINEER$10,464
- SERRATO$10,287
- CAPRI$7,533
- EVEREST XT$7,225
- AVIATOR$6,500
How this compares
$304,983 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 773 neurological surgery providers in California.
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.
Other neurological surgery in Palo Alto
- Anand VeeravaguPalo Alto$1.2M
- Gary SteinbergPalo Alto$278K
- Christopher AmesSan Francisco$7.1M
- Larry KhooLos Angeles$2.8M
- Samy AbdouSan Diego$2.4M
- Bret AbshireMurrieta$2.3M
- William TaylorSan Diego$2.1M
- Tooraj GravoriEncino$2M
- Ali MesiwalaRancho Cucamonga$1.5M
- Joseph OsorioSan Diego$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.