Kaku Barkoh, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Kingwood, TXNPI 1043503238
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (34.5%), travel and lodging and education — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 38 manufacturers reported payments, led by Spinal Simplicity, LLC at 32.3% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $37,651 and has fallen 69.3% since, to $11,575 in 2025.
Across 355 payments — averaging $276.69 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Spinal Simplicity, LLC$32K
- Abbott$20K
- Amplify Surgical, Inc.$16K
- Kuros Biosciences USA, Inc$7K
- Degen Medical, Inc.$7K
- Genesys Orthopedics Systems, L.L.C.$4K
- plus $13K from 32 others
Across 12 payments — averaging $875.00 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.
- Spinal Elements, Inc.$8K
- Intrinsic Therapeutics$3K
Across 1 payment — averaging $1382.18 each. An ownership or investment interest held by the physician or an immediate family member.
- Spinal Simplicity, LLC$1K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$33,86234%
- Speaking & faculty fees$8,7159%
- Travel & lodging$22,09322%
- Food & beverage$16,35417%
- Education$17,20018%
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.
- HA MINUTEMAN G3-R$29,681
- PROCLAIM$18,187
- dualX$15,697
- LIBERTY SI$11,518
- MagnetOs$6,963
- TiLock$4,000
- BARRICAID ACD (ANNULAR CLOSURE DEVICE)$3,461
- Cervical Stand Alone$1,575
- Excelsius - GPS$1,272
- ELSA$1,101
- ACTIVL$876
- PIVOX Oblique Lateral Spinal System$595
- Medical Device$242
- iFuse Implant$237
- O-ARM$180
- StealthStation$171
- MAKO$166
- M6-C$160
- STEALTHSTATION S8 PLATFORM$137
- Mazor X Stealth Edition$132
How this compares
$98,224 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 207 orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Texas.
See all orthopaedic surgery of the spine 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tizanidine Hcl | 242 | $1,279 |
| Diclofenac Sodium | 109 | $1,160 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 96 | $941 |
| Methylprednisolone | 82 | $589 |
| Gabapentin | 38 | $318 |
| Meloxicam | 11 | $58 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 20 | $53 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery of the spine in Kingwood
- Navin SubramanianKingwood$255K
- Randall DryerAustin$2.9M
- Craig KuhnsAustin$2.4M
- David WimberleyHouston$2.2M
- Jeffrey PhelpsNorth Richland Hills$1.9M
- Eric WieserArlington$1.5M
- Andrew ClavennaDallas$1.3M
- Ivan ChengKyle$1.2M
- Stephen TolhurstFlower Mound$1.1M
- Michael ObrienPlano$1M
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.