Ernest Wright, MD
Neurological Surgery · Nashville, TNNPI 1346569589
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $54,413 of the $62,902 with a category attached, or 86.5%. Medical Device Business Services, Inc. accounts for 85.5% of it on its own, with 10 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2021 at $26,726 and has fallen 97.5% since, to $662 in 2025.
Across 101 payments — averaging $622.79 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$54K
- Depuy Synthes Products, Inc.$6K
- Johnson & Johnson$899
- Medtronic$615
- Philips North America LLC$500
- Abbott$466
- plus $348 from 5 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$54,41387%
- Travel & lodging$5,1198%
- Food & beverage$3,2715%
- Education$990%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 44 | $53,807 |
| Depuy Synthes Products, Inc. | 11 | $6,267 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 15 | $899 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 10 | $615 |
| Philips North America LLC | 4 | $500 |
| Abbott | 12 | $466 |
| Synaptive Medical Inc. | 1 | $107 |
| Cerapedics Inc. | 1 | $99 |
| EBI, LLC | 1 | $49 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $49 |
| Stryker | 1 | $45 |
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.
- VIPER$56,497
- CONDUIT$32,931
- Sentio$31,386
- EXPEDIUM$31,278
- COUGAR$23,310
- Azurion 7 B20$434
- PIVOX Oblique Lateral Spinal System$144
- Mazor X Stealth Edition$132
- MazorX - Renaissance$122
- O-ARM$115
- Brightmatter Guide V$107
- BRAINLAB$104
How this compares
$62,902 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 156 neurological surgery providers in Tennessee.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 33 | $473 |
| Gabapentin | 41 | $373 |
| Pregabalin | 15 | $303 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 27 | $248 |
| Methylprednisolone | 21 | $154 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 33 | $146 |
| Methocarbamol | 20 | $92 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other neurological surgery in Nashville
- Brian OshaughnessyNashville$2.1M
- Chine LoganNashville$309K
- Scott ParkerNashville$255K
- Arthur UlmNashville$203K
- Gregory LanfordNashville$175K
- William SchooleyNashville$105K
- Khan LiNashville$101K
- Dario EnglotNashville$47K
- Chadd FunkNashville$38K
- Vishad SukulNashville$27K
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.