Has Douglas Backous, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $35,609 in general payments to Douglas Backous, MD across 109 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Douglas Backous, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Douglas Backous, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Douglas Backous, MD

Otolaryngology · Puyallup, WANPI 1669589974

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

The money is spread across several categories — travel and lodging (33.2%), royalties or licence payments and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. It is spread thinly across 23 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 21.8%. 2025 is the largest year on record at $11,582, 2.4 times the $4,797 reported in 2019. Among otolaryngology clinicians in WA 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.

$35,609in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 109 payments — averaging $326.68 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Grace Medical, Inc.$8K
Medtronic$7K
Cochlear Ltd$6K
Stryker$5K
Cochlear Bone Anchored Solutions AB$3K
Med-el Corporation$2K
plus $5K from 17 others

$1,530in research payments, 2019–2025

Across 2 payments — averaging $765.00 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.

Cochlear Americas$2K

What the payments were for

Royalty or licence$7,66522%
Consulting fees$6,37318%
Speaking & faculty fees$3,1639%
Grants$1,7505%
Travel & lodging$11,82233%
Food & beverage$4,83614%

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
Grace Medical, Inc.	7	$7,759
Medtronic(2 entities)	25	$6,765
Cochlear Ltd	3	$6,032
Stryker	10	$5,110
Cochlear Bone Anchored Solutions AB	2	$2,921
Med-el Corporation	8	$2,202
Cochlear Latinoamerica Sociedad Anonima	1	$1,906
Cochlear Americas	16	$1,289
Advanced Bionics, LLC	17	$509
Oticon Medical, LLC	2	$291
Inspire Medical Systems, Inc.	1	$154
Intersect ENT, Inc.	1	$150
Neurent Medical Limited	2	$147
Aerin Medical Inc.	3	$100
Axogen	1	$65
Sanofi	2	$45
GSK	2	$31
Hologic Sales And Service, LLC	1	$30
Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc.	1	$28
Vertex	1	$22
AstraZeneca	1	$19
Alk-abello, Inc	1	$17
Genentech USA, Inc.	1	$16

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.

Baha$11,350
Cochlear Nucleus CI632 cochlear implant with Slim Modiolar electrode$9,300
OSIA OSI300 IMPLANT$9,300
2 IN 1 ALTO IMPLANT$5,792
NSE - HIGH SPEED DRILLS$4,000
Nucleus$2,049
Osia$2,049
Mi1250 SYNCHRONY 2 FLEXsoft$1,892
BCI 602 Kit$1,892
2 IN 1ALTO IMPLANT$1,795
Indigo$1,173
SCOPIS ENT$875
PROPEL$294
STEALTHSTATION S8 PLATFORM$291
PONTO BONE ANCHORED HEARING SYSTEM$274
Inspire Upper Airway Stimulation System$154
ADHEAR Professional Kit$142
PTEYE PARATHYROID DETECTION SYSTEM$133
NIM Vital$122
NEUROMARK Device$119

How this compares

$35,609 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 254 otolaryngology providers in Washington.

See all otolaryngology providers in Washington →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$164,710

Medicare patients

300

Services billed

1,264

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
Acetazolamide	12	$924
Ofloxacin	14	$187
Dexamethasone	11	$94
Clonazepam	14	$17

Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.

Other otolaryngology in Puyallup

Greg DavisPuyallup$531K
Charles EdmondPuyallup$3K
Christoph PrummerPuyallup$3K
Todd JonesPuyallup$2K
Ian HumphreysSeattle$43K
Craig MillerSeattle$24K
Sachin GuptaSeattle$23K
Sharon CushingSeattle$19K
Ronald KruegerMukilteo$19K
Eric WatermanBellevue$15K

See the full list for Washington →

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.

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