Has Phillip Esce, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $32,361 in general payments to Phillip Esce, MD across 52 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Phillip Esce, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Phillip Esce, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Phillip Esce, MD

Neurological Surgery · Spartanburg, SCNPI 1457322406

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

The money is spread across several categories — travel and lodging (35.9%), consulting fees and royalties or licence payments — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Nexxt Spine LLC accounts for 90.6% of it on its own, with 12 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $18,473 and has fallen 59.2% since, to $7,540 in 2025. Among neurological surgery clinicians in SC with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.

$32,361in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 52 payments — averaging $622.34 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Nexxt Spine LLC$29K
Implanet America, Inc.$1K
Spine Wave, Inc.$1K
Abbott$237
Surgalign Spine Technologies, Inc.$166
Alphatec Spine, Inc$102
plus $217 from 7 others

$333,720in research payments, 2019–2025

Across 4 payments — averaging $83,430 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.

Allied Spinal Industries$334K

What the payments were for

Royalty or licence$7,04922%
Consulting fees$11,11534%
Travel & lodging$11,63036%
Food & beverage$2,5688%

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
Nexxt Spine LLC	29	$29,305
Implanet America, Inc.	4	$1,239
Spine Wave, Inc.	2	$1,095
Abbott	7	$237
Surgalign Spine Technologies, Inc.	2	$166
Alphatec Spine, Inc	1	$102
Seaspine Orthopedics Corporation	1	$82
Inari Medical, Inc.	1	$41
Smith+Nephew	1	$28
Intrinsic Therapeutics	1	$21
Spinal Simplicity, LLC	1	$16
AbbVie	1	$15
Lemaitre Vascular, Inc.	1	$14

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.

SI System$17,237
Struxxure MCS System$7,049
Nexxt Matrixx SI Helixx$6,033
Connexx System$5,625
Struxxure MCS$2,490
Matrixx SI$2,490
TESTA TP PIVOTING SPACER SYSTEM$1,000
SI Development$717
Nexxt Spine Product Offerings$505
Nexxt Spine Cadaver Lab Product Follow Up$470
ALLOGRAFT$156
Nexxt Spine Product Portfolio$143
OCTRODE$138
Nexxt Spine Matrixx Systems$110
Nexxt Spine Inertia Connexx$104
Struxxure Plate System$104
Matrixx 5 Pillars$104
INVICTUS OPEN$102

How this compares

$32,361 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 114 neurological surgery providers in South Carolina.

See all neurological surgery providers in South Carolina →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$400,313

Medicare patients

717

Services billed

3,209

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	177	$2,048
Naloxone Hcl	20	$1,527
Tizanidine Hcl	182	$1,415
Oxycodone Hcl	112	$795
Methocarbamol	57	$505
Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen	38	$464
Pregabalin	24	$365
Cephalexin	52	$351
Gabapentin	41	$300
Methylprednisolone	39	$273
Ondansetron OdtOndansetron	12	$150
Tramadol Hcl	28	$116
Meloxicam	29	$114
Cyclobenzaprine Hcl	18	$72
Ciprofloxacin Hcl	18	$50

Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.

Other neurological surgery in Spartanburg

Adam BackSpartanburg$99K
Christopher ChittumSpartanburg$28K
Robert FlandrySpartanburg$10K
Alejandro SpiottaCharleston$894K
David JonesRock Hill$540K
Sabino DagostinoLadson$425K
Jan Vargas MachajGreenville$207K
Michael CowanRock Hill$184K
Jonathan LenaCharleston$110K
Matthew NealCharleston$65K

See the full list for South Carolina →

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.

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