James Choo, MD
Pain Medicine · Knoxville, TNNPI 1396935227
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $3,687 of the $5,029 with a category attached, or 73.3%. 13 manufacturers reported payments, led by Medtronic at 40.5% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $2,376 and has fallen 62.1% since, to $899 in 2025.
Across 148 payments — averaging $33.98 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medtronic$2K
- Relievant Medsystems, Inc.$1K
- Boston Scientific$597
- MML US, Inc.$328
- Abbott$253
- Spinal Simplicity, LLC$247
- plus $434 from 7 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$1,34327%
- Food & beverage$3,68773%
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 | 57 | $2,035 |
| Relievant Medsystems, Inc. | 10 | $1,136 |
| Boston Scientific | 28 | $597 |
| MML US, Inc. | 8 | $328 |
| Abbott | 17 | $253 |
| Spinal Simplicity, LLC | 10 | $247 |
| Nalu Medical, Inc. | 7 | $141 |
| SPR Therapeutics, Inc | 2 | $109 |
| Vertos Medical, Inc. | 5 | $103 |
| Choice Spine, LLC | 1 | $25 |
| Biotronik NRO, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Saluda Medical Americas, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
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$2,088
- SYNCHROMEDII$377
- INTELLIS ADAPTIVESTIM$317
- ReActiv8$153
How this compares
$5,029 in reported general payments places this provider in the 55th percentile of 112 pain medicine 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 |
|---|---|---|
| BotoxOnabotulinumtoxina | 74 | $101,157 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 22 | $514 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 21 | $469 |
| Gabapentin | 11 | $156 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other pain medicine in Knoxville
- Joseph DichiaraKnoxville$102K
- Stephanie VanterpoolKnoxville$69K
- Kyle SnyderKnoxville$8K
- George MearsKnoxville$4K
- Matthew VanceKnoxville$3K
- Shravani DurbhakulaNashville$353K
- Herbert MeltzerNashville$43K
- Marc HuntoonNashville$37K
- Gregory BallChattanooga$35K
- Phillip GreenMemphis$34K
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.