Chad Howze, DPM
Foot & Ankle Surgery · San Antonio, TXNPI 1295112738
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (52.8%), travel and lodging and education — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 30 manufacturers reported payments, led by Stryker at 40.9% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $3,929, more than ten times the $117 reported in 2019.
Across 185 payments — averaging $60.19 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Stryker$5K
- Treace Medical Concepts, Inc.$2K
- Medinc Of Texas$1K
- Orthofix Medical, Inc.$1K
- Smith+Nephew$276
- Johnson & Johnson$263
- plus $1K from 24 others
Across 2 payments — averaging $1,199,076 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.
- Vertex$2.4M
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$4,06036%
- Food & beverage$5,87553%
- Education$1,20011%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stryker | 53 | $4,557 |
| Treace Medical Concepts, Inc. | 29 | $2,498 |
| Medinc Of Texas | 3 | $1,280 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 27 | $1,046 |
| Smith+Nephew | 9 | $276 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 3 | $263 |
| Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 14 | $251 |
| Amgen | 6 | $87 |
| Kerecis Limited | 3 | $86 |
| Organogenesis Inc. | 4 | $83 |
| Triad Life Sciences Inc. | 4 | $76 |
| Mission Medical Distribution, LLC | 3 | $65 |
| Bioventus LLC | 2 | $59 |
| Convatec Inc. | 3 | $58 |
| Acumed LLC | 1 | $55 |
| Medline Industries LP | 2 | $51 |
| Nvision Biomedical Technologies, Inc. | 2 | $51 |
| Baudax Bio Inc. | 3 | $45 |
| Globus Medical | 1 | $31 |
| Axogen | 2 | $28 |
| Merck | 2 | $24 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Atland Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 1 | $23 |
| Melinta Therapeutics, LLC | 1 | $23 |
| Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Anika Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Nabriva Therapeutics, PLC | 1 | $16 |
| Arthrosurface Incorporated | 1 | $14 |
| Arteriocyte Medical Systems, Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| Abbott | 1 | $13 |
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.
- Lapiplasty System$1,693
- CITREFIX$846
- PROstep$534
- TrueLok$465
- ORTHOLOC 2 LAPIFUSE$290
- PANGEA$248
- XARELTO$244
- STAR$221
- AXSOS$172
- ALLOGRAFT$172
- INFINITY$161
- HOFFMANN$160
- AUGMENT INJECTABLE$160
- Viaflow$160
- PROPHECY$160
- PROSTEP MICA$160
- VALOR$151
- LAPIPLASTY SYSTEM 1$141
- VARIAX$140
- COLLAGENASE SANTYL$114
How this compares
$11,135 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 684 foot & ankle 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 | 15 | $148 |
| Gabapentin | 14 | $127 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 12 | $80 |
| Meloxicam | 16 | $43 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other foot & ankle surgery in San Antonio
- Ian BarronSan Antonio$162K
- Walter StrashSan Antonio$86K
- Thomas ZgonisSan Antonio$79K
- Collin PehdeSan Antonio$49K
- William McGarveyKaty$3.5M
- Eugene CurryDallas$3.1M
- Graham HamiltonEdinburg$2.1M
- Mark DaltonAustin$1.9M
- Kevin VarnerHouston$1.1M
- Paul KimDallas$928K
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.