Joey Grochmal, MD
Neurological Surgery · The Woodlands, TXNPI 1053832527
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (38.4%), food and beverage and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 23 manufacturers reported payments, led by Highridge Medical LLC at 39.5% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $19,568, 3.3 times the $5,934 reported in 2019.
Across 197 payments — averaging $162.54 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Highridge Medical LLC$13K
- Medtronic$4K
- Orthofix Medical, Inc.$3K
- Globus Medical$3K
- Ulrich Medical USA, Inc.$2K
- Spineart USA Inc$2K
- plus $5K from 17 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$12,30038%
- Travel & lodging$9,70130%
- Food & beverage$9,90331%
- Entertainment$1160%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Highridge Medical LLC | 15 | $12,663 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 41 | $3,675 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 18 | $3,154 |
| Globus Medical | 13 | $3,013 |
| Ulrich Medical USA, Inc. | 10 | $2,114 |
| Spineart USA Inc | 13 | $1,966 |
| Stryker | 29 | $1,382 |
| Seaspine Orthopedics Corporation | 11 | $800 |
| Providence Medical Technology, Inc. | 6 | $632 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 13 | $537 |
| Spineology Inc. | 4 | $511 |
| Alphatec Spine, Inc | 4 | $505 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 3 | $294 |
| Axogen | 3 | $246 |
| Spinal Elements, Inc. | 2 | $213 |
| Checkpoint Surgical, Inc | 4 | $113 |
| Cerapedics Inc. | 1 | $59 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 2 | $44 |
| Nevro Corp. | 1 | $30 |
| Abbott | 1 | $25 |
| Prosidyan, Inc | 1 | $16 |
| Sanara Medtech Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Olympus America Inc. | 1 | $15 |
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.
- MOBI-C PLUG & FIT US$10,800
- 7D Surgical System$1,787
- ELSA$1,736
- Vital$1,640
- MazorX - Renaissance$1,037
- CREO$866
- Mariner Deformity$862
- MAZOR X SYSTEM$596
- EVEREST SPINAL SYSTEM$512
- OPTIMESH EXPANDABLE INTERBODY FUSION SYSTEM$511
- DIVERGENCE-L$422
- Medical Devices$383
- Mariner$356
- INVICTUS OPEN$300
- AxoGuard Nerve Protector$221
- AxoGuard Nerve Connector$221
- O-ARM-Spine$173
- CD HORIZON SPINAL SYSTEM$165
- Excelsius Deformity$165
- N/A$163
How this compares
$32,020 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 582 neurological surgery 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 | 23 | $141 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other neurological surgery in The Woodlands
- Koijan KainthThe Woodlands$1.3M
- Luis DuarteSan Angelo$1.2M
- Douglas FoxAustin$948K
- Richard MeyratDallas$883K
- Adam LewisCorpus Christi$792K
- Arnold VardimanSan Antonio$687K
- Andrew RoeserHouston$660K
- Scott RobertsonRound Rock$606K
- Sabatino BiancoArlington$564K
- Rebecca StachniakPlano$561K
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.