Thomas Chen, PhD
Neurological Surgery · Los Angeles, CANPI 1225071509
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — speaking fees (46.7%), food and beverage and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Novocure Inc. accounts for 65.1% of it on its own, with 12 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $5,711 and has fallen 90.3% since, to $556 in 2025.
Across 44 payments — averaging $194.80 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Novocure Inc.$6K
- Cerapedics Inc.$1K
- Medtronic$1K
- GT Medical Technologies, Inc$185
- Icotec Medical Inc.$157
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$131
- plus $339 from 7 others
Across 10 payments — averaging $3288.90 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.
- Biom'up France SAS$17K
- Novocure Inc.$12K
- Dilon Technologies, Inc.$3K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$1,00012%
- Speaking & faculty fees$4,00047%
- Travel & lodging$1,10813%
- Food & beverage$2,46329%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Novocure Inc. | 12 | $5,581 |
| Cerapedics Inc. | 3 | $1,177 |
| Medtronic | 15 | $1,002 |
| GT Medical Technologies, Inc | 4 | $185 |
| Icotec Medical Inc. | 1 | $157 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 2 | $131 |
| Axogen | 1 | $106 |
| Carbofix Spine Inc | 1 | $74 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $46 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $36 |
| Stryker | 1 | $34 |
| Flowonix Medical Incorporated | 1 | $23 |
| Spinal Elements, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
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.
- Oncology$5,429
- I-FACTOR PEPTIDE ENHANCED BONE GRAFT$1,159
- MASTERGRAFT MATRIX EXT$195
- icotec BlackArmor Spine System$157
- AQUAMANTYS$152
- ANTERALIGN SPINAL SYSTEM WITH TITAN NANOLOCK SURFACE TECHNOLOGY$139
- SYMPHONY$125
- MOUNTAINEER$125
- SYNAPSE$125
- GammaTile$120
- VISUALASE$114
How this compares
$8,571 in reported general payments places this provider in the 60th percentile of 773 neurological surgery providers in California.
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 neurological surgery in Los Angeles
- Larry KhooLos Angeles$2.8M
- Aaron Cohen-GadolLos Angeles$1.3M
- Geoffrey ColbyLos Angeles$1.1M
- Langston HollyLos Angeles$846K
- Linda LiauLos Angeles$783K
- Adam MamelakLos Angeles$678K
- Martin PhamLos Angeles$596K
- Carl LauryssenLos Angeles$571K
- Vivek MehtaLos Angeles$442K
- Patrick HsiehLos Angeles$345K
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.