Melvin Wahl, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Richland, WANPI 1750399275
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by travel and lodging: $3,813 of the $5,139 with a category attached, or 74.2%. Globus Medical accounts for 99.7% of it on its own, with 1 other manufacturer making up the rest. That places this record below the midpoint for orthopaedic surgery of the spine clinicians in WA, where the typical reported total is $7,316.
Across 42 payments — averaging $122.35 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Globus Medical$5K
- Medtronic$17
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$3,81374%
- Food & beverage$1,32626%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Globus Medical(2 entities) | 41 | $5,122 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $17 |
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.
How this compares
$5,139 in reported general payments places this provider in the 40th percentile of 61 orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Washington.
See all orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Washington →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Methocarbamol | 38 | $291 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 18 | $168 |
| Cephalexin | 28 | $125 |
| Metoclopramide Hcl | 44 | $107 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 14 | $107 |
| Hydromorphone Hcl | 11 | $77 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery of the spine in Richland
- Janmeet SahotaRichland$10K
- Antoine TohmehSpokane$4.3M
- Rajiv SethiSeattle$2.9M
- Mark FreebornKirkland$1.8M
- Alireza AnissipourEverett$598K
- Richard BransfordSeattle$413K
- Jens ChapmanSeattle$394K
- Venu NemaniSeattle$199K
- Philip LouieSeattle$132K
- John ShusterSpokane$124K
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.