Ian Gao, MD
Sports Medicine · Spartanburg, SCNPI 1043637481
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $18,525 of the $19,457 with a category attached, or 95.2%. 11 manufacturers reported payments, led by Smith+Nephew at 56.0% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2020 at $15,037 and has fallen 99.2% since, to $116 in 2025.
Across 46 payments — averaging $422.97 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Smith+Nephew$11K
- Evolution Surgical, Inc$6K
- Peerless Surgical Inc.$2K
- Stryker$182
- Bioventus LLC$52
- Johnson & Johnson$48
- plus $121 from 5 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$9315%
- Education$18,52595%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Smith+Nephew | 8 | $10,888 |
| Evolution Surgical, Inc | 13 | $6,099 |
| Peerless Surgical Inc. | 7 | $2,068 |
| Stryker | 5 | $182 |
| Bioventus LLC | 4 | $52 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 3 | $48 |
| Inari Medical, Inc. | 1 | $41 |
| Avanos Medical | 2 | $32 |
| Linvatec Corporation | 1 | $18 |
| Abbott | 1 | $15 |
| Vertex | 1 | $14 |
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.
- TRIATHLON$127
How this compares
$19,457 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 158 sports medicine providers in South Carolina.
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 | 259 | $483 |
| Methylprednisolone | 86 | $421 |
| Diclofenac Sodium | 26 | $134 |
| Ibuprofen | 28 | $87 |
| Naproxen | 25 | $85 |
| Ondansetron Hcl | 13 | $49 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other sports medicine in Spartanburg
- Douglas WylandSpartanburg$124K
- Mikhail AlexeevSpartanburg$31K
- James McDermottSpartanburg$17K
- Christopher ElliottSpartanburg$6K
- Silas HolmesColumbia$2.2M
- Stephan PillGreenville$688K
- Steven MartinSeneca$356K
- Stefan TolanGreenville$280K
- Michael KissenberthGreenville$172K
- Guillaume DumontWest Columbia$146K
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.