Steven Zielinski, MD
Neurological Surgery · Waco, TXNPI 1205871951
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by royalties or licence payments: $6,138 of the $8,217 with a category attached, or 74.7%. Zimmer Biomet accounts for 75.3% of it on its own, with 5 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $6,550 and has fallen 95.4% since, to $299 in 2023.
Across 18 payments — averaging $456.47 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Zimmer Biomet$6K
- Spinal Elements, Inc.$1K
- Kyocera Medical Technologies, Inc.$464
- Genesys Orthopedics Systems, L.L.C.$171
- Choice Spine, LLC$71
- Alafair Biosciences, Inc.$21
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$6,13875%
- Food & beverage$2,07925%
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 | 2 | $6,186 |
| Spinal Elements, Inc. | 10 | $1,304 |
| Kyocera Medical Technologies, Inc. | 1 | $464 |
| Genesys Orthopedics Systems, L.L.C. | 2 | $171 |
| Choice Spine, LLC | 1 | $71 |
| Alafair Biosciences, Inc. | 2 | $21 |
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.
- Zyston Interbody$6,138
- Medical Device$784
How this compares
$8,217 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 582 neurological 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tizanidine Hcl | 29 | $306 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 51 | $302 |
| Acetaminophen-CodeineAcetaminophen With Codeine | 25 | $221 |
| Cephalexin | 24 | $220 |
| Gabapentin | 34 | $175 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other neurological surgery in Waco
- Koijan KainthThe Woodlands$1.3M
- Luis DuarteSan Angelo$1.2M
- Douglas FoxAustin$948K
- Richard MeyratDallas$883K
- Adam LewisCorpus Christi$792K
- Arnold VardimanSan Antonio$687K
- Andrew RoeserHouston$660K
- Scott RobertsonRound Rock$606K
- Sabatino BiancoArlington$564K
- Rebecca StachniakPlano$561K
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.