Houtan Taba, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Houston, TXNPI 1699110874
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 159 payments — averaging $72.42 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medtronic$4K
- Globus Medical$1K
- Arthrex$1K
- Providence Medical Technology, Inc.$1K
- Johnson & Johnson$758
- Medinc Of Texas$569
- plus $2K from 14 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$2,23919%
- Food & beverage$9,27681%
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.
| Company | Payments | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 82 | $3,931 |
| Globus Medical(2 entities) | 9 | $1,416 |
| Arthrex | 13 | $1,259 |
| Providence Medical Technology, Inc. | 10 | $1,111 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 11 | $758 |
| Medinc Of Texas | 3 | $569 |
| Cerapedics Inc. | 7 | $563 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 6 | $425 |
| Stryker | 6 | $344 |
| Sanara Medtech Inc. | 1 | $188 |
| Vertos Medical, Inc. | 1 | $145 |
| Aesculap Implant Systems, LLC | 1 | $140 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 1 | $132 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $128 |
| Lifenet Health | 1 | $127 |
| Carlsmed, Inc. | 2 | $112 |
| Alphatec Spine, Inc | 1 | $77 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $45 |
| Convatec Inc. | 1 | $27 |
| Alafair Biosciences, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
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.
- MAZOR X SYSTEM$528
- I-FACTOR PEPTIDE ENHANCED BONE GRAFT$466
- CellerateRx$188
- Excelsius3D Imaging System$169
- SYMPHONY$147
- CATALYFT PL EXPANDABLE INTERBODY SYSTEM$146
- mild Device Kit$145
- CONDUIT$143
- SYNFIX$143
- ViviGen$143
- UNID_PASS$142
- ACTIVL$140
- ENDOSKELETON TL NANOLOCK SURFACE TECHNOLOGY$132
- 7D Surgical System$132
- Sable$128
- Allograft VMIS Delivery System$127
- NONE$126
- ELSA$107
- FiberCel$105
How this compares
$11,515 in reported general payments places this provider in the 45th percentile of 207 orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Texas.
See all orthopaedic surgery of the spine 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 253 | $3,417 |
| Gabapentin | 184 | $2,018 |
| Methocarbamol | 183 | $1,587 |
| Acetaminophen-CodeineAcetaminophen With Codeine | 102 | $1,189 |
| Celecoxib | 53 | $708 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 42 | $540 |
| Methylprednisolone | 67 | $474 |
| Pregabalin | 21 | $206 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 19 | $185 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 35 | $174 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 33 | $130 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 28 | $123 |
| Ondansetron OdtOndansetron | 24 | $110 |
| Duloxetine Hcl | 15 | $88 |
| Meloxicam | 30 | $67 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery of the spine in Houston
- David WimberleyHouston$2.2M
- Shah-Nawaz DodwadHouston$710K
- Leonard KibuuleHouston$669K
- Vivek KushwahaHouston$632K
- Robert MohrHouston$352K
- Bernhard MeyerHouston$238K
- Ra'kerry RahmanHouston$188K
- Ryan StuckeyHouston$181K
- Rex MarcoHouston$174K
- Richard FrancisHouston$156K
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.