Nileshkumar Chaudhari, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Houston, TXNPI 1386693406
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (53.0%), travel and lodging and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 24 manufacturers reported payments, led by Trimed, Inc. at 47.1% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $4,313 and has fallen 90.4% since, to $414 in 2025.
Across 74 payments — averaging $155.59 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Trimed, Inc.$5K
- Stryker$2K
- Sonex Health, Inc.$1K
- Axogen$600
- Skeletal Dynamics Inc$353
- Treace Medical Concepts, Inc.$253
- plus $1K from 18 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$5004%
- Speaking & faculty fees$5004%
- Travel & lodging$4,33738%
- Food & beverage$6,10253%
- Entertainment$751%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Trimed, Inc. | 13 | $5,418 |
| Stryker(2 entities) | 20 | $2,319 |
| Sonex Health, Inc. | 3 | $1,135 |
| Axogen | 3 | $600 |
| Skeletal Dynamics Inc | 1 | $353 |
| Treace Medical Concepts, Inc. | 5 | $253 |
| Boston Scientific | 3 | $215 |
| DJO, LLC | 3 | $211 |
| Alafair Biosciences, Inc. | 2 | $177 |
| Acumed LLC | 2 | $153 |
| Medshape, Inc. | 2 | $110 |
| AstraZeneca | 1 | $100 |
| Linvatec Corporation | 1 | $88 |
| Bioventus LLC | 2 | $59 |
| Carbofix Orthopedics Inc | 2 | $56 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $50 |
| Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 3 | $48 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $41 |
| Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| ERMI LLC | 1 | $24 |
| Baudax Bio Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Medinc Of Texas | 1 | $21 |
| Amgen | 1 | $20 |
| Biedermann Motech, Inc. | 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.
- Sx-One Microknife$1,135
- INFINITY$705
- PROPHECY$575
- AxoGuard Nerve Protector$552
- AxoGuard Nerve Connector$552
- Geminus$353
- Align$353
- IJS$353
- Implate$353
- HOFFMANN$319
- VersaWrap$163
- Lapiplasty System$160
- ACUMED$124
- Tools - WFS$123
- ACUITY Steerable$109
- PROSTEP MICA$104
How this compares
$11,514 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 1,337 orthopaedic 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 105 | $818 |
| Gabapentin | 18 | $195 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 22 | $149 |
| Meloxicam | 45 | $87 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 40 | $83 |
| Sulfamethoxazole-TrimethoprimSulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim | 16 | $71 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Houston
- Stefan KreuzerHouston$6.2M
- Stephen IncavoHouston$4.3M
- Thomas EdwardsHouston$4.1M
- Adam FreedhandHouston$1.8M
- Jeffrey KozakHouston$1.1M
- Travis HansonHouston$1M
- Thomas TanousHouston$698K
- Alan RechterHouston$605K
- Ugonna IhekweazuHouston$544K
- Darrell HansonHouston$284K
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.