Joseph Obrien, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Bethesda, MDNPI 1437109907
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by royalties or licence payments: $1,879,463 of the $2,400,677 with a category attached, or 78.3%. Globus Medical accounts for 61.3% of it on its own, with 47 other manufacturers making up the rest. Among orthopaedic surgery of the spine clinicians in MD 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 869 payments — averaging $2762.57 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Globus Medical$1.5M
- Orthofix Medical, Inc.$298K
- Medtronic$160K
- Seaspine Orthopedics Corporation$134K
- Stryker$97K
- Baxter Healthcare$75K
- plus $165K from 42 others
Across 33 payments — averaging $5202.96 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- Surgalign Spine Technologies, Inc.$72K
- Ossdsign USA Incorporated$35K
- Medtronic$25K
- Smart-surgical Inc. Dba Burst Biologics$17K
- Prosidyan, Inc$15K
- Depuy Synthes Products, Inc.$7K
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$1,879,46378%
- Consulting fees$278,53412%
- Speaking & faculty fees$176,2607%
- Travel & lodging$26,4271%
- Food & beverage$33,9361%
- Education$5,0550%
- Gifts$1540%
- Entertainment$8490%
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.
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.
- RISE-L$244,228
- Mariner MIS$237,194
- ELSA$188,667
- COALITION AGX$132,081
- RISE-L . RISE-L A/L$131,342
- SI-LOK Select$131,051
- Physio-Stim$121,898
- RISE$94,669
- CREO$77,103
- COALITION AGX / AGX RP$76,632
- Mariner$63,979
- SECURE-C$62,354
- Fortilink-L IBF System$52,152
- CREO Addition$50,578
- Hedron$49,850
- RAVINE LATERAL ACCESS SYSTEM$44,938
- ELSA, ELSA AL/ATP$41,078
- ACTIFUSE$34,019
- SI-LOK$30,740
- ELSA ATP$30,717
How this compares
$2,400,677 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 49 orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Maryland.
See all orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Maryland →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Celecoxib | 29 | $882 |
| Gabapentin | 51 | $428 |
| Methylprednisolone | 57 | $395 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 50 | $260 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 16 | $128 |
| Diclofenac Sodium | 11 | $112 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 24 | $97 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 14 | $88 |
| Diazepam | 40 | $86 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery of the spine in Bethesda
- Navinder SethiBethesda$114K
- Eric FeuchtbaumBethesda$43K
- Alfred PisanoBethesda$38K
- Ira FischBethesda$1K
- John CarboneBaltimore$25M
- Steven LudwigBaltimore$2.7M
- Paul McAfeeBaltimore$2.2M
- Ira FedderTowson$1.1M
- Scott McGovernSalisbury$431K
- Amit JainBaltimore$250K
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.