Maria Palafox, MD
Surgery · San Antonio, TXNPI 1699740951
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $32,722 of the $38,437 with a category attached, or 85.1%. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 90.7% of it on its own, with 14 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $18,398 and has fallen 98.8% since, to $213 in 2025. Among surgery clinicians in TX with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 93 payments — averaging $413.30 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$35K
- Davol Inc.$1K
- Acell, Inc.$722
- Hologic Inc$571
- Elucent Medical$477
- Tactile Systems Technology Inc$56
- plus $267 from 9 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$530%
- Travel & lodging$4,07511%
- Food & beverage$1,5854%
- Education$32,72285%
- Gifts$30%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Surgical | 56 | $34,871 |
| Davol Inc. | 15 | $1,473 |
| Acell, Inc. | 1 | $722 |
| Hologic Inc | 1 | $571 |
| Elucent Medical | 2 | $477 |
| Tactile Systems Technology Inc | 4 | $56 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $53 |
| Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc. | 3 | $48 |
| AbbVie | 2 | $33 |
| Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. | 1 | $32 |
| Next Science LLC | 2 | $24 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 1 | $23 |
| TELA Bio, Inc. | 2 | $21 |
| Merit Medical Systems Inc | 1 | $17 |
| Innocoll Pharmaceuticals Limited | 1 | $15 |
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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$25,171
- DAVINCI XI$9,000
- Phasix Mesh$1,029
- TRIDENT SPECIMEN RADIOGRAPHY SYSTEM$571
- ARISTA AH FLEXITIP$232
How this compares
$38,437 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 1,830 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.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Anastrozole | 11 | $346 |
| Peg-3350 And ElectrolytesPeg3350/Sod Sulf,bicarb,cl/Kcl | 11 | $204 |
| Ibuprofen | 17 | $199 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 20 | $114 |
| Metoclopramide Hcl | 13 | $99 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in San Antonio
- Richard PetersonSan Antonio$323K
- Joseph KaramSan Antonio$293K
- John PilcherSan Antonio$214K
- John MeterskySan Antonio$158K
- Kent van SickleSan Antonio$143K
- Richard EnglehardtSan Antonio$107K
- Guillermo Portillo RamilaSan Antonio$102K
- Michael HarkinsTomball$2.7M
- Douglas StoddardAustin$1.4M
- Steven FassAustin$989K
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.