Charles Nivens, MD
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation · Bluffton, SCNPI 1801898432
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $16,263 of the $25,236 with a category attached, or 64.4%. Curonix LLC accounts for 68.0% of it on its own, with 11 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $9,001, 5.5 times the $1,638 reported in 2019. Among physical medicine & rehabilitation clinicians in SC with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 122 payments — averaging $206.85 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Curonix LLC$17K
- Vertos Medical, Inc.$7K
- Nevro Corp.$243
- Merz North America, Inc.$122
- AbbVie$108
- Boston Scientific$99
- plus $266 from 6 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$16,26364%
- Travel & lodging$4,13216%
- Food & beverage$4,77019%
- Education$720%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Curonix LLC | 58 | $17,154 |
| Vertos Medical, Inc. | 31 | $7,244 |
| Nevro Corp. | 12 | $243 |
| Merz North America, Inc. | 2 | $122 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 6 | $108 |
| Boston Scientific | 3 | $99 |
| Globus Medical | 4 | $90 |
| Galderma Laboratories, L.p. | 1 | $57 |
| Abbott | 2 | $53 |
| SPR Therapeutics, Inc | 1 | $32 |
| Saluda Medical Americas, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Fidia Pharma USA Inc. | 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.
How this compares
$25,236 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 122 physical medicine & rehabilitation providers in South Carolina.
See all physical medicine & rehabilitation providers in South Carolina →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| OxycontinOxycodone Hcl | 12 | $10,413 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 339 | $5,110 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 92 | $1,823 |
| Fentanyl | 22 | $1,742 |
| Celecoxib | 143 | $1,623 |
| Gabapentin | 218 | $1,586 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 190 | $1,527 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 217 | $1,205 |
| Hydromorphone Hcl | 13 | $1,073 |
| Meloxicam | 217 | $1,054 |
| Pregabalin | 56 | $824 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 59 | $533 |
| Morphine Sulfate ErMorphine Sulfate | 19 | $522 |
| Methocarbamol | 37 | $494 |
| Baclofen | 23 | $459 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other physical medicine & rehabilitation in Bluffton
- Susan CramerBluffton$7K
- Vincent SomaioBluffton$158
- William LorenzFlorence$66K
- Jonathan ChapekisGreer$17K
- Rebecca HoldrenGreenville$15K
- Nancey TsaiHanahan$13K
- Ashley MaybinConway$10K
- Anthony AlexanderFlorence$10K
- Eleasa HulonGreenville$10K
- Christopher MerrellN Charleston$7K
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.