Cody Hightower, MD
Hand Surgery · Douglasville, GANPI 1275986655
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $9,209 of the $14,434 with a category attached, or 63.8%. 19 manufacturers reported payments, led by Arthrex at 32.5% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $8,684 and has fallen 98.4% since, to $138 in 2025.
Across 69 payments — averaging $209.19 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Arthrex$5K
- Peerless Surgical Inc.$3K
- United Orthopedics LLC$2K
- Acumed LLC$2K
- Axogen$1K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$700
- plus $935 from 13 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$2,97421%
- Food & beverage$2,25016%
- Education$9,20964%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Arthrex | 18 | $4,688 |
| Peerless Surgical Inc. | 5 | $2,754 |
| United Orthopedics LLC | 2 | $2,400 |
| Acumed LLC | 9 | $1,758 |
| Axogen | 5 | $1,200 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 4 | $700 |
| Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 7 | $357 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $123 |
| Osteomed LLC | 1 | $88 |
| ERMI LLC | 3 | $63 |
| Skeletal Dynamics Inc | 2 | $61 |
| Moximed, Inc | 3 | $53 |
| BD | 1 | $49 |
| Endo USA, Inc. | 2 | $35 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $28 |
| Stryker | 1 | $26 |
| Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $24 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $17 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 1 | $10 |
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.
- Hand Fracture System$1,562
- Osteotomy System$1,430
- AVANCE NERVE GRAFT$1,170
- Acu-Loc Wrist Plating System$784
- MODULAR HAND SYSTEM$784
- Acutrak Headless Compression Screw System$778
- Arc Wrist Tower$778
- Total Wrist Fusion Plating System$778
- XIAFLEX$285
- Acu-Loc Wrist Spanning System$132
- DISTAL EXTREMITIES IMPLANTS SOFT TISSUE IB LIGAMENT AUGMENTATION$104
- VA-LCP$101
How this compares
$14,434 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 77 hand surgery providers in Georgia.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Meloxicam | 125 | $269 |
| Celecoxib | 16 | $137 |
| Methylprednisolone | 27 | $128 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 36 | $68 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other hand surgery in Douglasville
- Eric WagnerAtlanta$173K
- Phani DantuluriAtlanta$120K
- Gregory KolovichSavannah$103K
- Michael ShulerAthens$99K
- Travis LittletonAtlanta$35K
- Nicole ZelenskiAtlanta$34K
- Justin BarrettGainesville$33K
- Tobias von BergenStockbridge$27K
- James SprattAtlanta$18K
- Sonya KhuranaLithia Springs$16K
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.