Steven Theiss
Orthopaedic Surgery · Birmingham, ALNPI 1922050715
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — royalties or licence payments (46.4%), food and beverage and speaking fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 24 manufacturers reported payments, led by Zimmer Biomet at 47.1% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $11,852 and has fallen 94.3% since, to $675 in 2025.
Across 69 payments — averaging $266.90 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Zimmer Biomet$9K
- Synthes GmbH$5K
- Stryker$1K
- Spine Wave, Inc.$704
- Globus Medical$560
- Cerapedics Inc.$417
- plus $2K from 18 others
Across 11 payments — averaging $896.94 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.
- Pfizer$10K
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$8,54046%
- Consulting fees$5003%
- Speaking & faculty fees$3,00016%
- Travel & lodging$1,4748%
- Food & beverage$4,75126%
- Education$1501%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Zimmer Biomet | 8 | $8,669 |
| Synthes GmbH | 6 | $4,620 |
| Stryker | 12 | $1,050 |
| Spine Wave, Inc. | 3 | $704 |
| Globus Medical(2 entities) | 7 | $560 |
| Cerapedics Inc. | 4 | $417 |
| Surgalign Spine Technologies, Inc. | 2 | $268 |
| Medtronic | 3 | $235 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 4 | $222 |
| Carlsmed, Inc. | 2 | $208 |
| Providence Medical Technology, Inc. | 2 | $201 |
| Zimvie Inc. | 1 | $150 |
| Medacta USA, Inc. | 2 | $132 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 1 | $132 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 1 | $131 |
| Spineology Inc. | 1 | $126 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 1 | $125 |
| Exactech, Inc. | 1 | $97 |
| Smith+Nephew | 2 | $92 |
| Ossdsign USA Incorporated | 1 | $81 |
| Ulrich Medical USA, Inc. | 2 | $68 |
| Kinamed, Inc. | 1 | $50 |
| Wenzel Spine, Inc. | 1 | $42 |
| Curiteva, Inc. | 1 | $36 |
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.
- Gallery Laminoplasty$8,540
- I-FACTOR PEPTIDE ENHANCED BONE GRAFT$554
- SALVO SPINE SYSTEM$204
- AERO$163
- KYPHON Balloon Kyphoplasty$150
- Spine-None$150
- ALLOGRAFT$147
- CASCADIA INTERBODY SYSTEM$135
- RAVINE LATERAL ACCESS SYSTEM$135
- EVEREST SPINAL SYSTEM$135
- BIOFIX$132
- BIODRESTORE$132
- MEDIHONEY$132
- BIODOPTIX$132
- BIODFACTOR$132
- MAKO$130
- OPTIMESH EXPANDABLE INTERBODY FUSION SYSTEM$126
- Trinity ELITE$125
- COFLEX INTERLAMINAR TECHNOLOGY, 10MM$121
- CASCADIA$117
How this compares
$18,416 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 319 orthopaedic surgery providers in Alabama.
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 | 43 | $670 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 25 | $194 |
| Methocarbamol | 13 | $65 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Birmingham
- Jeffrey DugasBirmingham$11.5M
- Benton EmblomBirmingham$3M
- Herrick SiegelBirmingham$1.2M
- Kenneth MooreBirmingham$342K
- Joseph SherrillBirmingham$221K
- Jonathan QuadeBirmingham$217K
- Ginger BryantBirmingham$209K
- Marcus RothermichBirmingham$207K
- Daniel KimBirmingham$147K
- Eugene BrabstonBirmingham$117K
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.