Christopher Bates, MD
Hand Surgery · Fort Worth, TXNPI 1750791513
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (36.1%), travel and lodging and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. It is spread thinly across 22 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 19.8%. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $2,010 and has fallen 73.4% since, to $535 in 2025.
Across 88 payments — averaging $121.07 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Pylant Medical$2K
- Microaire Surgical Instruments LLC$2K
- Acumed LLC$2K
- Acera Surgical, Inc.$1K
- Arthrex$1K
- Sonex Health, Inc.$780
- plus $2K from 16 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$1,70016%
- Travel & lodging$2,44023%
- Food & beverage$3,84836%
- Education$1,68816%
- Other$9789%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pylant Medical | 11 | $2,111 |
| Microaire Surgical Instruments LLC | 1 | $1,700 |
| Acumed LLC | 9 | $1,684 |
| Acera Surgical, Inc. | 3 | $1,085 |
| Arthrex | 9 | $1,030 |
| Sonex Health, Inc. | 11 | $780 |
| Tepha Inc | 12 | $625 |
| Stryker | 6 | $394 |
| Exsomed Corporation | 1 | $228 |
| Trice Medical, Inc. | 1 | $184 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 9 | $167 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 2 | $156 |
| Anika Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $140 |
| Next Science LLC | 1 | $103 |
| Motiva USA, LLC | 1 | $80 |
| Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 2 | $43 |
| Hydrocision, Inc. | 1 | $41 |
| Abbott | 2 | $33 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 2 | $26 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $17 |
| Dynasplint Systems Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Nevro Corp. | 1 | $12 |
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.
- MicroAire$1,700
- Acu-Loc Wrist Plating System$1,094
- Acutrak Headless Compression Screw System$1,094
- Hand Fracture System$1,094
- Restrata Wound Matrix$978
- Sx-One Microknife$632
- INnate Implant$585
- Osteotomy System$467
- InFrame Implant$357
- GalaFLEX$301
- ArrowPhix System$228
- ArcPhix System$228
- Elbow Plating System$149
- Polarus 3 Solution$149
- ATLAS$140
- MAKO$137
- ACUMED$129
- TENOGLIDE$123
- NEURAGEN$123
- SurgX$103
How this compares
$10,654 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 170 hand 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 | 220 | $1,051 |
| Methylprednisolone | 50 | $368 |
| Cephalexin | 13 | $121 |
| Meloxicam | 42 | $80 |
| Sulfamethoxazole-TrimethoprimSulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim | 16 | $76 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 18 | $34 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other hand surgery in Fort Worth
- William PientkaFort Worth$113K
- Bryan ReyesFort Worth$9K
- Hannah KimFort Worth$8K
- David RingAustin$536K
- Kourosh JafarniaHouston$278K
- Brendan MackayLubbock$274K
- John FaillaceWoodway$212K
- Daniel KoehlerDallas$208K
- Timothy NiacarisArlington$160K
- Steven NiedermeierArlington$152K
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.