Richard Alford
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — education (43.9%), food and beverage and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 80.7% of it on its own, with 6 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $1,723 and has fallen 98.7% since, to $23 in 2024. That places this record below the midpoint for surgery clinicians in TX, where the typical reported total is $2,700.
Across 21 payments — averaging $108.51 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$2K
- Davol Inc.$230
- Baxter Healthcare$91
- Smith+Nephew$36
- Johnson & Johnson$34
- TELA Bio, Inc.$26
- plus $23 from 1 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$52623%
- Food & beverage$75333%
- Education$1,00044%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Surgical | 12 | $1,840 |
| Davol Inc. | 2 | $230 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 2 | $91 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $36 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $34 |
| TELA Bio, Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $23 |
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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$1,488
- PHASIX$146
How this compares
$2,279 in reported general payments places this provider in the 45th 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tramadol Hcl | 27 | $105 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in Bryan
- Michael HarkinsTomball$2.7M
- Douglas StoddardAustin$1.4M
- Steven FassAustin$989K
- Vineet ChoudhryAustin$851K
- Andy HawthorneRound Rock$843K
- Nancy MarquezAustin$700K
- Sachin KukrejaDallas$640K
- Alejandro EsquivelAustin$631K
- Erik WilsonBellaire$610K
- Folahan AyoolaDenton$570K
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.