Don Buford, MD
Sports Medicine · Dallas, TXNPI 1720089899
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $49,896 of the $80,485 with a category attached, or 62.0%. 23 manufacturers reported payments, led by Linvatec Corporation at 45.6% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $36,555 and has fallen 88.4% since, to $4,231 in 2025. Among sports medicine clinicians in TX 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 117 payments — averaging $687.91 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Linvatec Corporation$37K
- Trice Medical, Inc.$23K
- Globus Medical$12K
- Ranfac Corporation$3K
- Bioventus LLC$1K
- Pacira Therapeutics, Inc.$700
- plus $3K from 17 others
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$16,16020%
- Consulting fees$49,89662%
- Speaking & faculty fees$3,7005%
- Travel & lodging$5,1116%
- Food & beverage$5,6187%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Linvatec Corporation | 33 | $36,673 |
| Trice Medical, Inc. | 33 | $23,034 |
| Globus Medical | 7 | $12,423 |
| Ranfac Corporation | 2 | $3,427 |
| Bioventus LLC | 2 | $1,421 |
| Pacira Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $700 |
| Pylant Medical | 7 | $612 |
| Arcuro Medical Inc | 1 | $500 |
| Tenex Health Inc. | 1 | $288 |
| Arthrex | 2 | $238 |
| Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas, Inc | 1 | $160 |
| Amgen | 8 | $146 |
| Spinesmith Holdings, LLC | 2 | $122 |
| CPM Medical Consultants, LLC | 1 | $122 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $121 |
| Mindray DS USA, Inc. | 2 | $120 |
| Anika Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $104 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 3 | $74 |
| Vertex | 3 | $64 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 2 | $42 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 2 | $37 |
| Heraeus Medical, LLC. | 1 | $31 |
| Innovation Technologies Inc | 1 | $25 |
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.
- BioBrace 23mm$19,099
- KNEE BIOLOGICS$12,877
- Viacell$12,000
- Segway blade or mieye camera$10,930
- ALLOGRAFT TISSUE$2,250
- LIVATEC KNEE PRESERVATION SYSTEM$1,292
- LINVATEC SHOULDER ARTHROSCOPY$1,139
- Zilretta$700
- SUPERBALL$500
- LINVATEC EXTREMITIES$232
- RISE-L$163
- LATIS Lateral$163
- ARTHREX$148
- CONMED HANDHELD INSTRUMENTS$146
- HALL POWER$146
- FLOSEAL$121
- TACTOSET$104
How this compares
$80,485 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 437 sports medicine 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Meloxicam | 75 | $256 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 11 | $31 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other sports medicine in Dallas
- Robert ScheinbergDallas$2.2M
- Kelechi OkorohaDallas$297K
- Todd MoenDallas$219K
- Robert DimeffDallas$106K
- Daniel CooperDallas$74K
- Robert BurgmeierDallas$60K
- Mahmoud KhairDallas$59K
- Dheeraj YalamanchiliDallas$54K
- Karim MeijerDallas$38K
- Mark MullerDallas$28K
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.