Theodore Choma, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Columbia, MONPI 1609813799
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — speaking fees (55.7%), travel and lodging and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Synthes GmbH accounts for 94.2% of it on its own, with 3 other manufacturers making up the rest.
Across 38 payments — averaging $555.45 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Synthes GmbH$20K
- Medtronic$683
- Johnson & Johnson$459
- Globus Medical$86
Across 3 payments — averaging $13,578 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.
- Medtronic$41K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$2,10010%
- Speaking & faculty fees$11,75056%
- Travel & lodging$5,92828%
- Food & beverage$1,3296%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Synthes GmbH | 27 | $19,879 |
| Medtronic | 3 | $683 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 7 | $459 |
| Globus Medical | 1 | $86 |
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.
How this compares
$21,107 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 53 orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Missouri.
See all orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Missouri →
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 | 32 | $525 |
| Ibuprofen | 15 | $79 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 13 | $20 |
| Diazepam | 29 | $19 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery of the spine in Columbia
- Steven MeyerColumbia$545K
- Tyler JenkinsColumbia$56K
- Jeffrey ParkerColumbia$44K
- Robert GainesColumbia$39K
- Abdul Fettah BuyukColumbia$38K
- Don MooreColumbia$18K
- John MilesColumbia$15K
- Jason KoreckijColumbia$4K
- Nikhil JainColumbia$3K
- Thomas HighlandColumbia$1K
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.