Ian Tafel, MD
Neurological Surgery · Miami, FLNPI 1205249596
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $34,849 of the $37,325 with a category attached, or 93.4%. 11 manufacturers reported payments, led by Spine Wave, Inc. at 56.2% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $13,192, more than ten times the $304 reported in 2021.
Across 63 payments — averaging $592.47 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Spine Wave, Inc.$21K
- Elevation Spine, Inc.$14K
- Expanding Innovations, Inc.$837
- Zavation Medical Products, LLC$750
- Medtronic$602
- Spineology Inc.$235
- plus $401 from 5 others
Across 1 payment — averaging $599.30 each. An ownership or investment interest held by the physician or an immediate family member.
- Expanding Innovations, Inc.$599
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$34,84993%
- Travel & lodging$2561%
- Food & beverage$2,0245%
- Education$1961%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Spine Wave, Inc. | 34 | $20,979 |
| Elevation Spine, Inc. | 13 | $13,521 |
| Expanding Innovations, Inc. | 3 | $837 |
| Zavation Medical Products, LLC | 2 | $750 |
| Medtronic | 4 | $602 |
| Spineology Inc. | 2 | $235 |
| Augmedics Inc. | 1 | $208 |
| Biocomposites Inc | 1 | $109 |
| Globus Medical | 1 | $30 |
| AbbVie | 1 | $28 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 1 | $24 |
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.
How this compares
$37,325 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 556 neurological surgery 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.
Other neurological surgery in Miami
- Eric PetersonMiami$10.1M
- Michael WangMiami$2.2M
- Wilson AsforaMiami$1.3M
- Steven VanniMiami$1.1M
- Timur UrakovMiami$652K
- Samuel GoldsmitMiami$519K
- Robert StarkeMiami$302K
- Ian CoteMiami$231K
- Michael IvanMiami$225K
- James GuestMiami$155K
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.