Paul Jeffords, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Atlanta, GANPI 1033106570
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (38.7%), other and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 18 manufacturers reported payments, led by Choice Spine, LLC at 40.5% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $312,623 and has fallen 67.8% since, to $100,548 in 2025.
Across 241 payments — averaging $2700.58 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Choice Spine, LLC$263K
- Arteriocyte Medical Systems, Inc.$246K
- Stryker$123K
- Surgalign Spine Technologies, Inc.$9K
- Globus Medical$5K
- Mirus, LLC$2K
- plus $2K from 12 others
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$54,2148%
- Consulting fees$251,83839%
- Travel & lodging$90,89814%
- Food & beverage$7,6801%
- Education$1650%
- Entertainment$480%
- Other$245,99938%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Choice Spine, LLC | 60 | $263,347 |
| Arteriocyte Medical Systems, Inc. | 2 | $246,021 |
| Stryker | 133 | $123,090 |
| Surgalign Spine Technologies, Inc. | 5 | $9,105 |
| Globus Medical | 11 | $5,470 |
| Mirus, LLC | 1 | $1,500 |
| Medtronic | 6 | $838 |
| VB Spine LLC | 5 | $681 |
| Intrinsic Therapeutics | 3 | $284 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $165 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 4 | $76 |
| Ossdsign USA Incorporated | 3 | $56 |
| Xtant Medical Inc | 1 | $56 |
| Davol Inc. | 1 | $52 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 2 | $32 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $25 |
| Abbott | 1 | $24 |
| United Orthopedics LLC | 1 | $18 |
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.
- Thunderbolt Minimally Invasive Pedicle Screw Systems$152,674
- TigerShark M$107,846
- Stratofuse$60,391
- Blackhawk Cervical Spacer System$53,822
- Triton$48,766
- Harrier SA Lumbar Interbody System$45,682
- VEO Lateral Interbody Fusion System$41,002
- TRITANIUM$39,715
- Boomerang$35,839
- ES2 SPINAL SYSTEM$29,885
- ES2$26,823
- Tiger Shark C$19,157
- CASCADIA INTERBODY SYSTEM$18,002
- NIAGARA LATERAL ACCESS SYSTEM$17,550
- TIGERSHARK C$16,682
- LATERAL ACCESS SPINAL SYSTEM$15,279
- XIA$14,754
- AERO$14,078
- SERRATO$14,078
- Octane M$13,500
How this compares
$650,841 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 57 orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Georgia.
See all orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Georgia →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 164 | $1,582 |
| Celecoxib | 42 | $1,058 |
| Gabapentin | 109 | $825 |
| Pregabalin | 40 | $651 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 151 | $465 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 64 | $415 |
| Acetaminophen-CodeineAcetaminophen With Codeine | 32 | $278 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 35 | $138 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 13 | $103 |
| Methylprednisolone | 16 | $81 |
| Meloxicam | 41 | $80 |
| Diazepam | 25 | $28 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery of the spine in Atlanta
- John HellerAtlanta$4.2M
- Scott BodenAtlanta$1.5M
- John RheeAtlanta$1.1M
- Melanie KinchenAtlanta$254K
- Sangwook YoonAtlanta$227K
- Keith MichaelAtlanta$194K
- Brian GohAtlanta$23K
- Krishna GumidyalaAtlanta$19K
- Plas JamesAtlanta$10K
- Douglass JohnsonAtlanta$7K
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.