Sam Akhavan, MD
Sports Medicine · Pittsburgh, PANPI 1801074711
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by royalties or licence payments: $1,794,974 of the $2,223,093 with a category attached, or 80.7%. Arthrex accounts for 99.7% of it on its own, with 5 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $592,475, 5.0 times the $119,027 reported in 2019. Among sports medicine clinicians in PA with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 593 payments — averaging $3748.89 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Arthrex$2.2M
- Mid-atlantic Surgical Systems, LLC$6K
- Heron Therapeutics, Inc.$31
- Johnson & Johnson$24
- Amgen$22
- Pacira Therapeutics, Inc.$20
Across 29 payments — averaging $1710.59 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.
- Arthrex$26K
- Zimmer Biomet$19K
- Aesculap Biologics, LLC$5K
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$1,794,97481%
- Consulting fees$106,5135%
- Speaking & faculty fees$274,00112%
- Travel & lodging$36,9632%
- Food & beverage$7,7210%
- Education$2,9200%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Arthrex | 531 | $2,217,467 |
| Mid-atlantic Surgical Systems, LLC | 58 | $5,529 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $31 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $24 |
| Amgen | 1 | $22 |
| Pacira Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
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.
- ARTHREX$8,274,300
- SHOULDER SUTURE FIBERWIRE SUTURETAPE$110,506
- AR-7538$74,412
- AR-7538T$48,989
- SHOULDER IMPLANTS PUSHLOCKS COMPOSITE ANCHORS$31,405
- BIOLOGICS CONSUMABLES CARTILAGE REPAIR ACCESSORIES$7,400
How this compares
$2,223,093 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 311 sports 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.
Other sports medicine in Pittsburgh
- Albert LinPittsburgh$460K
- Tyler HauerPittsburgh$48K
- Justin HicksPittsburgh$39K
- Darren FrankPittsburgh$39K
- Justin ArnerPittsburgh$36K
- Guang Ting CongPittsburgh$36K
- Ryan NussbaumPittsburgh$26K
- Patrick McMahonPittsburgh$16K
- Sommer HammoudPhiladelphia$238K
- Theresa PazionisPhiladelphia$235K
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.