Richard Gao, MD
Pain Medicine · Pittsburgh, PANPI 1598127656
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $5,753 of the $7,096 with a category attached, or 81.1%. 17 manufacturers reported payments, led by Medtronic at 49.7% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $3,249 and has fallen 83.5% since, to $536 in 2025.
Across 116 payments — averaging $61.17 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medtronic$4K
- Boston Scientific$1K
- Nevro Corp.$639
- Saluda Medical Americas, Inc.$429
- SPR Therapeutics, Inc$364
- Vertos Medical, Inc.$344
- plus $496 from 11 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$1,34319%
- Food & beverage$5,75381%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 49 | $3,523 |
| Boston Scientific | 23 | $1,302 |
| Nevro Corp. | 12 | $639 |
| Saluda Medical Americas, Inc. | 6 | $429 |
| SPR Therapeutics, Inc | 5 | $364 |
| Vertos Medical, Inc. | 5 | $344 |
| Abbott | 5 | $139 |
| MML US, Inc. | 1 | $126 |
| Nalu Medical, Inc. | 1 | $35 |
| Avanos Medical | 2 | $32 |
| Curonix LLC | 1 | $30 |
| Stryker | 1 | $27 |
| Appliedvr Inc | 1 | $24 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Averitas Pharma Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| AbbVie | 1 | $21 |
| Vertex | 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.
- SYNCHROMEDII$1,679
- GENERAL PAIN MANAGEMENT$316
- SPRINT PNS System$304
- INTELLIS$279
- INTELLIS ADAPTIVESTIM$242
- Evoke$177
- mild Device Kit$165
- Superion Indirect Decompression System$154
- Evoke SCS$151
- Senza$127
- ReActiv8$126
- VANTA ADAPTIVESTIM$124
- VERTIFLEX SUPERION$123
- SPECTRA WAVEWRITER$122
- Omnia$119
- Senza Spinal Cord Stimulation System$116
How this compares
$7,096 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 294 pain medicine providers in Pennsylvania.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Gabapentin | 172 | $3,453 |
| Buprenorphine | 13 | $3,185 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 192 | $2,647 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 80 | $1,917 |
| Fentanyl | 16 | $1,791 |
| Pregabalin | 44 | $1,437 |
| Celecoxib | 31 | $1,021 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 108 | $983 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 74 | $928 |
| Methadone Hcl | 45 | $774 |
| Baclofen | 51 | $680 |
| Morphine Sulfate ErMorphine Sulfate | 42 | $669 |
| Duloxetine Hcl | 20 | $226 |
| Diclofenac Sodium | 11 | $178 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 17 | $158 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other pain medicine in Pittsburgh
- Ajay WasanPittsburgh$66K
- Abraham KabaziePittsburgh$18K
- Michael HurPittsburgh$12K
- Feno MonacoPittsburgh$12K
- Danielle ZhengPittsburgh$10K
- Peter PryzbylkowskiPhiladelphia$506K
- Yeshvant NavalgundGreensburg$388K
- Jack SmithWilliamsport$324K
- Sanjay GuptaBala Cynwyd$241K
- Vwaire OrhurhuWilliamsport$191K
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.