Gary Kao, MD
Interventional Pain Medicine · Middleburg, FLNPI 1346582095
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $17,595 of the $25,168 with a category attached, or 69.9%. It is spread thinly across 43 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 19.3%. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $8,827 and has fallen 81.2% since, to $1,663 in 2025.
Across 415 payments — averaging $60.65 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Boston Scientific$5K
- Nalu Medical, Inc.$4K
- Medtronic$3K
- Spinal Simplicity, LLC$2K
- Vertos Medical, Inc.$2K
- Painteq LLC$1K
- plus $8K from 37 others
Across 21 payments — averaging $52,531 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.
- Nalu Medical, Inc.$1.1M
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$7,49130%
- Food & beverage$17,59570%
- Gifts$500%
- Entertainment$330%
Most of this is food and beverage — typically meals provided during product presentations at a clinic or hospital. Nationally that is the single largest category of reported payments by count.
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.
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.
- Intracept$3,549
- Nalu Neurostimulation System$2,954
- HA MINUTEMAN G3-R$1,853
- mild Device Kit$1,777
- SPECTRA WAVEWRITER$1,232
- INTELLIS ADAPTIVESTIM$906
- KYPHON EXPRESS II KYPHOPAK TRAY$818
- PAINTEQ$699
- SPRINT PNS System$410
- GENERAL PAIN MANAGEMENT$322
- PROCLAIM$250
- WAVEWRITER ALPHA$224
- PRODISC C VIVO$168
- WaveWriter Alpha Prime 16$149
- Superion Indirect Decompression System$129
- VRAYLAR$125
- Prospera$123
- BELBUCA$111
- Symproic$111
- Omnia$109
How this compares
$25,168 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 278 interventional pain medicine providers in Florida.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| BelbucaBuprenorphine Hcl | 123 | $113,540 |
| Xtampza ErOxycodone Myristate | 63 | $31,047 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 1,137 | $29,317 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 793 | $26,067 |
| UbrelvyUbrogepant | 12 | $18,956 |
| Buprenorphine | 82 | $16,865 |
| OxycontinOxycodone Hcl | 25 | $12,417 |
| Hysingla ErHydrocodone Bitartrate | 29 | $11,118 |
| Pregabalin | 316 | $6,220 |
| Buprenorphine-NaloxoneBuprenorphine Hcl/Naloxone Hcl | 50 | $5,768 |
| Gabapentin | 388 | $4,352 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 273 | $3,682 |
| Tramadol Hcl ErTramadol Hcl | 55 | $3,590 |
| Fentanyl | 31 | $2,879 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 150 | $1,920 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Companies that both paid and supply prescribed drugs
These companies both reported payments to this provider and make drugs the provider prescribed under Medicare Part D in 2024. For most specialties this overlap is expected — a cardiologist who is paid by a cardiology drugmaker also treats heart disease. It is shown so the reader can see it, not because it implies anything on its own.
| Company | Paid to this provider | Part D cost of their drugs |
|---|---|---|
| Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc.Belbuca, Xtampza Er | $642 | $144,587186 claims |
| AbbVieUbrelvy | $239 | $18,95612 claims |
Reading this fairly. The Part D column is what drug plans and patients paid pharmacies — this provider received none of it, and it reflects how many patients they treat and what those drugs cost. Against peers, this provider's reported payments sit in the 85th percentile of 278 interventional pain medicine providers in Florida.
Other interventional pain medicine in Middleburg
- Louis RasoJupiter$1.3M
- Ajay AntonyGainesville$1.1M
- Michael EspositoVero Beach$777K
- Nomen AzeemRiverview$650K
- Stanley GolovacMerritt Island$367K
- Sunil PanchalLutz$363K
- Robert BallPort Charlotte$246K
- Justin MannJacksonville$243K
- Giuseppe PaeseBoca Raton$180K
- Miguel de la GarzaNew Port Richey$138K
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.