Matthew Higgs, MD
Sports Medicine · Houston, TXNPI 1588828800
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $7,108 of the $8,481 with a category attached, or 83.8%. It is spread thinly across 38 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 20.8% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. 2025 is the largest year on record at $2,137, 2.5 times the $840 reported in 2019.
Across 221 payments — averaging $38.38 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Amgen$2K
- Stryker$2K
- Brixton Biosciences, Inc.$1K
- Smith+Nephew$597
- Bioventus LLC$469
- Si-bone, Inc.$311
- plus $2K from 32 others
Across 78 payments — averaging $8014.08 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.
- Davol Inc.$342K
- Linvatec Corporation$127K
- Currax Pharmaceuticals LLC$86K
- Brixton Biosciences, Inc.$48K
- Regeneron$23K
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$1,00012%
- Travel & lodging$3254%
- Food & beverage$7,10884%
- Entertainment$481%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Amgen(2 entities) | 87 | $1,767 |
| Stryker | 14 | $1,748 |
| Brixton Biosciences, Inc. | 2 | $1,146 |
| Smith+Nephew | 5 | $597 |
| Bioventus LLC | 23 | $469 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 3 | $311 |
| Abbott | 9 | $283 |
| Radius Health, Inc. | 10 | $178 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 8 | $157 |
| Anika Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $156 |
| Pacira Therapeutics, Inc. | 8 | $154 |
| Relievant Medsystems, Inc. | 1 | $147 |
| Sanara Medtech Inc. | 1 | $143 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 6 | $117 |
| Vertex | 3 | $101 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 5 | $95 |
| Medinc Of Texas | 3 | $94 |
| Painteq LLC | 3 | $81 |
| Nevro Corp. | 1 | $77 |
| Nalu Medical, Inc. | 2 | $70 |
| Sonex Health, Inc. | 1 | $64 |
| Fidia Pharma USA Inc. | 3 | $64 |
| Assertio Therapeutics, Inc. | 3 | $62 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 2 | $56 |
| Flowonix Medical Incorporated | 1 | $48 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $40 |
| KCI USA, Inc. | 1 | $37 |
| ERMI LLC | 1 | $31 |
| Ossur Americas, Inc. | 3 | $28 |
| Davol Inc. | 2 | $27 |
| Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Inc | 1 | $23 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 1 | $18 |
| Vericel Corporation | 1 | $17 |
| IBSA Pharma Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Tactile Systems Technology Inc | 1 | $16 |
| MDD US Operations, LLC | 1 | $13 |
| Hydrocision, Inc. | 1 | $11 |
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.
- Neural Ice$1,146
- TRIATHLON$812
- MAKO$672
- ACCOLADE$328
- Q-FIX$325
- Intracept$294
- iFuse Implant$275
- KRYSTEXXA$210
- Acufex$169
- Bioinductive Implant with Arthroscopic Delivery System - Medium$169
- TACTOSET$156
- CellerateRx$143
- PROCLAIM$102
How this compares
$8,481 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 437 sports medicine 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lidocaine | 15 | $1,537 |
| Diclofenac Potassium | 79 | $1,257 |
| Methylprednisolone | 149 | $880 |
| Meloxicam | 269 | $623 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 63 | $309 |
| Celecoxib | 20 | $244 |
| Pregabalin | 13 | $186 |
| Acetaminophen-CodeineAcetaminophen With Codeine | 29 | $152 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 15 | $143 |
| Prednisone | 84 | $114 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 11 | $76 |
| Gabapentin | 13 | $31 |
| Diazepam | 12 | $21 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other sports medicine in Houston
- Walter LoweHouston$1.4M
- James GregoryHouston$565K
- Robert FullickHouston$137K
- Patrick McCullochHouston$136K
- Joshua HarrisHouston$109K
- Mark AdickesHouston$35K
- Mufaddal GomberaHouston$33K
- Robert FlanneryHouston$27K
- David BrownHouston$27K
- Ankur MehtaHouston$26K
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.