Balaji Charlu, MD
Interventional Pain Medicine · Newport Beach, CANPI 1609980432
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 91 payments — averaging $68.88 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Relievant Medsystems, Inc.$2K
- Pfizer$1K
- SPR Therapeutics, Inc$1K
- Boston Scientific$924
- Nevro Corp.$720
- Curonix LLC$187
- plus $543 from 10 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$1,30021%
- Travel & lodging$1,22320%
- Food & beverage$3,67059%
- Education$751%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Relievant Medsystems, Inc. | 23 | $1,590 |
| Pfizer | 1 | $1,300 |
| SPR Therapeutics, Inc | 7 | $1,004 |
| Boston Scientific | 22 | $924 |
| Nevro Corp. | 14 | $720 |
| Curonix LLC | 7 | $187 |
| Globus Medical | 2 | $152 |
| Nalu Medical, Inc. | 6 | $104 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 1 | $75 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 2 | $56 |
| Stryker | 1 | $43 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $31 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $24 |
| Avanos Medical | 1 | $22 |
| Medline Industries LP | 1 | $20 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $15 |
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.
- Intracept$3,066
- LYRICA$1,300
- SPRINT PNS System$954
- Omnia$284
- Senza$145
- Senza Spinal Cord Stimulation System$114
How this compares
$6,268 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 188 interventional pain medicine providers in California.
See all interventional pain medicine 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.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Gabapentin | 450 | $4,222 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 158 | $2,482 |
| Etodolac | 83 | $1,951 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 52 | $1,298 |
| Pregabalin | 39 | $883 |
| Duloxetine Hcl | 44 | $482 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 80 | $457 |
| Baclofen | 33 | $255 |
| Celecoxib | 24 | $253 |
| Methocarbamol | 20 | $154 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 17 | $126 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 18 | $118 |
| Prednisone | 32 | $111 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 16 | $92 |
| Meloxicam | 51 | $84 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other interventional pain medicine in Newport Beach
- Sten KramerNewport Beach$11K
- Sheldon JordanSanta Monica$3.1M
- Ezekiel FinkBeverly Hills$2.3M
- Matthew DotyOroville$1.3M
- Tim LeierRancho Mirage$749K
- Pragya GuptaEscondido$647K
- Michael Verdolinla Mesa$563K
- Standiford HelmOrange$476K
- Patrick BuchananCamarillo$453K
- Roy BrownlowSan Diego$452K
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.