Melinda Nickels, MD
Surgery · Lubbock, TXNPI 1629071022
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 23 payments — averaging $19.22 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Johnson & Johnson$89
- Stryker$61
- Endomagnetics Ltd$46
- Medtronic$30
- Servier Pharmaceuticals LLC$25
- Genentech USA, Inc.$23
- plus $168 from 11 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$442100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Johnson & Johnson | 4 | $89 |
| Stryker | 1 | $61 |
| Endomagnetics Ltd | 2 | $46 |
| Medtronic | 2 | $30 |
| Servier Pharmaceuticals LLC | 1 | $25 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Elucent Medical | 2 | $22 |
| Tactile Systems Technology Inc | 1 | $17 |
| Biocomposites Inc | 1 | $17 |
| Incyte Corporation | 1 | $17 |
| Hologic Sales And Service, LLC | 1 | $16 |
| Enterra Medical, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Coopersurgical, Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| Merit Medical Systems Inc | 1 | $13 |
| Cook Biotech Incorporated | 1 | $13 |
| Eisai Inc. | 1 | $12 |
| Sanofi | 1 | $12 |
How this compares
$442 in reported general payments places this provider in the 25th 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lidocaine-PrilocaineLidocaine/Prilocaine | 22 | $263 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 79 | $133 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in Lubbock
- Funda MericHouston$20.6M
- Michael HarkinsTomball$2.7M
- Lloyd StegemannCorpus Christi$1.9M
- Douglas StoddardAustin$1.4M
- Erik WilsonBellaire$1.2M
- Thomas SerenaShenandoah$1.2M
- Steven FassAustin$989K
- Vineet ChoudhryAustin$924K
- Isidoro WienerHouston$850K
- Andy HawthorneRound Rock$843K
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.