Joseph Aferzon, MD
Surgery · Portland, CTNPI 1316960594
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by royalties or licence payments: $596,661 of the $711,615 with a category attached, or 83.8%. Alphatec Spine, Inc accounts for 92.6% of it on its own, with 9 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2021 at $170,272 and has fallen 65.1% since, to $59,438 in 2025. Among surgery clinicians in CT with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 126 payments — averaging $5647.74 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Alphatec Spine, Inc$659K
- Spinefrontier, Inc.$51K
- Corelink, LLC$567
- Medtronic$205
- Abbott$205
- Boston Scientific$90
- plus $147 from 4 others
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$596,66184%
- Consulting fees$89,57713%
- Travel & lodging$20,8033%
- Food & beverage$4,5751%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alphatec Spine, Inc | 108 | $659,152 |
| Spinefrontier, Inc. | 4 | $51,250 |
| Corelink, LLC | 2 | $567 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $205 |
| Abbott | 3 | $205 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $90 |
| Stryker | 3 | $74 |
| IBSA Pharma Inc. | 2 | $36 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 1 | $19 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
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.
- Solus ALIF$280,517
- AMP$211,203
- Solus$123,838
- VBR$51,250
- LIF$35,397
- Other - Miscellaneous$31,559
- InSpan$25,000
- SLIFT$25,000
- NanoFuse Putty$25,000
- LTX$15,452
- IdentiTi$12,544
- BATTALION LLIF$1,125
- LTP$1,125
- Battalion TLIF - PC$315
- MazorX - Renaissance$205
- Invictus MIS$151
- SQUADRON$114
How this compares
$711,615 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 289 surgery providers in Connecticut.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Gabapentin | 23 | $240 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 16 | $61 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in Portland
- John MortonNew Haven$970K
- Andrew DuffyNew Haven$256K
- Sherard ChiuFairfield$148K
- Nikhilesh SekharFairfield$140K
- Anees ChagparNew Haven$121K
- Roselle CrombieFairfield$113K
- Craig FlochNorwalk$88K
- Mark FariesNew Haven$84K
- Zhongqiu ZhangMiddlebury$83K
- Toghrul TalishinskiyDanbury$82K
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.