Stephen Hochschuler
Orthopaedic Surgery · Plano, TXNPI 1124065941
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — speaking fees (33.9%), consulting fees and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 15 manufacturers reported payments, led by Spinal Simplicity, LLC at 48.6% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $42,252 and has fallen 85.0% since, to $6,322 in 2025. Among orthopaedic surgery clinicians in TX 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.
Across 130 payments — averaging $579.00 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Spinal Simplicity, LLC$37K
- Tenon Medical, Inc.$23K
- Orthofix Medical, Inc.$7K
- MML US, Inc.$3K
- Zavation Medical Products, LLC$3K
- Surgalign Spine Technologies, Inc.$2K
- plus $2K from 9 others
Across 23 payments — averaging $5292.98 each. An ownership or investment interest held by the physician or an immediate family member.
- Spinal Simplicity, LLC$122K
- Spineology Inc.$178
- Relievant Medsystems, Inc.$0
- Stimwave Technologies Incorporated$0
- Woven Orthopedic Technologies, LLC$0
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$4,7236%
- Consulting fees$23,94532%
- Speaking & faculty fees$25,51634%
- Travel & lodging$13,09717%
- Food & beverage$2,9894%
- Education$5,0007%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Spinal Simplicity, LLC | 83 | $36,573 |
| Tenon Medical, Inc. | 1 | $22,500 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 8 | $7,362 |
| MML US, Inc. | 1 | $2,600 |
| Zavation Medical Products, LLC | 2 | $2,521 |
| Surgalign Spine Technologies, Inc. | 24 | $2,202 |
| Spineology Inc. | 1 | $416 |
| Cerapedics Inc. | 2 | $358 |
| Nevro Corp. | 2 | $243 |
| Centinel Spine, LLC | 1 | $157 |
| Globus Medical | 1 | $122 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $83 |
| Stryker | 1 | $61 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $48 |
| Arthrex | 1 | $24 |
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.
- HA MINUTEMAN G3-R$32,439
- CATAMARAN SIJ Fusion System$22,500
- ReActiv8$2,600
- MILC System$2,224
- NANOSS ABGS FAMILY$820
- LIBERTY SI$453
- OPTIMESH EXPANDABLE INTERBODY FUSION SYSTEM$416
- i-FACTOR Putty$358
- Minuteman$345
- Senza$243
- M6-C$158
- PRODISC L$157
- LessRay$122
How this compares
$75,270 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 1,337 orthopaedic surgery providers in Texas.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Plano
- Isador LiebermanPlano$1.3M
- Gerhard MaalePlano$983K
- Jack ZiglerPlano$949K
- Michael SchwartzPlano$639K
- Cyrus AbbaschianPlano$605K
- Khalid YousufPlano$485K
- Robert JohnsonPlano$217K
- Stephen BurkhartSan Antonio$185.3M
- Kirby HittTemple$9.1M
- Robert GrahamAustin$6.3M
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.