Joseph Empey, MD
Pain Medicine · St George, UTNPI 1205058294
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 486 payments — averaging $16.74 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Boston Scientific$3K
- AbbVie$1K
- Nevro Corp.$731
- Abbott$703
- Relievant Medsystems, Inc.$336
- Lundbeck LLC$315
- plus $2K from 29 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$8,135100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Scientific | 138 | $2,501 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 64 | $1,164 |
| Nevro Corp. | 44 | $731 |
| Abbott | 85 | $703 |
| Relievant Medsystems, Inc. | 10 | $336 |
| Lundbeck LLC | 17 | $315 |
| Pfizer | 15 | $284 |
| Nalu Medical, Inc. | 8 | $200 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 11 | $196 |
| MML US, Inc. | 2 | $176 |
| Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. | 12 | $175 |
| Medtronic(3 entities) | 9 | $153 |
| Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 8 | $141 |
| GRT US Holding, Inc. | 8 | $125 |
| Averitas Pharma Inc. | 4 | $100 |
| Vertos Medical, Inc. | 3 | $96 |
| Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd. | 6 | $91 |
| Amgen | 5 | $87 |
| Radius Health, Inc. | 5 | $80 |
| SPR Therapeutics, Inc | 6 | $74 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 4 | $63 |
| Redhill Biopharma Inc. | 3 | $47 |
| Biodelivery Sciences International, Inc. | 3 | $37 |
| Bioventus LLC | 2 | $35 |
| Novartis | 2 | $31 |
| Stimwave Technologies Incorporated | 2 | $30 |
| Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2 | $30 |
| Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. | 1 | $29 |
| Protega Pharmaceutials Inc | 1 | $20 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Vertex | 1 | $16 |
| Daiichi Sankyo Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Kaleo, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Sentynl Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $12 |
| Vertiflex, Inc. | 1 | $12 |
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
$8,135 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 61 pain medicine providers in Utah.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ShingrixVaricella-Zoster Ge/As01b/Pf | 14 | $2,965 |
| Gabapentin | 123 | $1,738 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 98 | $934 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 46 | $822 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 37 | $737 |
| Pregabalin | 20 | $422 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 18 | $312 |
| Meloxicam | 45 | $255 |
| Celecoxib | 18 | $251 |
| Ibuprofen | 21 | $223 |
| Cephalexin | 29 | $216 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other pain medicine in St George
- Jon ObraySt George$24K
- Bryt ChristensenSt George$6K
- Casey MuirSt George$4K
- Stacie OliverSt George$4K
- Bradley RootSt George$3K
- Dale StottSt George$109
- Lynn WebsterSalt Lake City$1.7M
- Maria SchwartzSalt Lake City$813K
- Jeremy JoyalDraper$170K
- Benjamin HumpherysLayton$120K
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.