Laurence Rhines, MD
Neurological Surgery · Houston, TXNPI 1457444911
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $258,703 of the $322,211 with a category attached, or 80.3%. Icotec Medical Inc. accounts for 66.8% of it on its own, with 10 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $100,969, 2.6 times the $38,629 reported in 2019. Among neurological surgery clinicians in TX 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 241 payments — averaging $1336.98 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Icotec Medical Inc.$215K
- Stryker$80K
- VB Spine LLC$17K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$9K
- Synthes GmbH$1K
- Carbofix Spine Inc$501
- plus $378 from 5 others
Across 1 payment — averaging $1000.00 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.
- GT Medical Technologies, Inc$1K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$258,70380%
- Speaking & faculty fees$5000%
- Travel & lodging$53,17517%
- Food & beverage$9,4623%
- Entertainment$3710%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Icotec Medical Inc. | 143 | $215,172 |
| Stryker | 76 | $79,665 |
| VB Spine LLC | 8 | $16,552 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 5 | $8,944 |
| Synthes GmbH | 2 | $1,000 |
| Carbofix Spine Inc | 2 | $501 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $130 |
| Brainlab, Inc. | 1 | $106 |
| Prosidyan, Inc | 1 | $103 |
| BD | 1 | $23 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $16 |
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.
- icotec BlackArmor Spine System$69,445
- VADER PEDICLE SYSTEM 6.0, SCREW, Carbon/PEEK, POLYAX., FEN., O 5.5 X 45 MM$50,663
- VADER PEDICLE SYSTEM, ROD, Carbon/PEEK, CURVED, 6.0 R450 X 200 MM$50,663
- KONG-TL VBR E, EXPANDABLE BODY, L, 19 MM X 27 - 37 MM$50,663
- KONG-TL VBR, END PLATE, ROUND, L AND SCREW, 12 X 43 MM$50,663
- KONG-TL VBR, END PLATE, RECTANGULAR, M AND SCREW, 12 X 33 MM$50,663
- icotec Medical BlackArmor Spine Oncology System$31,690
- SERRATO$23,306
- YUKON OCT SPINAL SYSTEM$16,698
- EVEREST SPINAL SYSTEM$15,722
- CAPRI CORPECTOMY CAGE SYSTEM$14,625
- VLIFT$14,604
- Vader Pedicle System$12,194
- TRITANIUM$11,751
- N/A$10,001
- EXPEDIUM$8,778
- VIPER$8,778
- AIRO$6,750
- KONG-TL VBR System$5,000
- KONG-C VBR System$5,000
How this compares
$322,211 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th 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.
Other neurological surgery in Houston
- Andrew RoeserHouston$660K
- Paul HolmanHouston$516K
- Taylor GistHouston$447K
- Meng HuangHouston$324K
- Omar TanweerHouston$254K
- Jeremy WangHouston$231K
- Alexander RopperHouston$208K
- Fangyi ZhangHouston$192K
- Ashwin ViswanathanHouston$185K
- Blake StaubHouston$171K
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.