Thomas Distefano, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Yuma, AZNPI 1598768830
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $19,534 of the $32,496 with a category attached, or 60.1%. Arthrex accounts for 67.8% of it on its own, with 15 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $13,242 and has fallen 96.7% since, to $434 in 2025.
Across 186 payments — averaging $174.71 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Arthrex$22K
- Peerless Surgical Inc.$10K
- Zimmer Biomet$255
- Vital Orthopedics LLC$135
- Amgen$106
- Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC$72
- plus $312 from 10 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$8,99028%
- Food & beverage$3,97112%
- Education$19,53460%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Arthrex | 100 | $22,039 |
| Peerless Surgical Inc. | 58 | $9,577 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $255 |
| Vital Orthopedics LLC | 1 | $135 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 7 | $106 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 2 | $72 |
| Stryker | 2 | $61 |
| ERMI LLC | 2 | $48 |
| Avanos Medical | 3 | $47 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $35 |
| Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 2 | $31 |
| Vericel Corporation | 1 | $28 |
| Merck | 2 | $26 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $13 |
| Convatec Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| Fidia Pharma USA Inc. | 1 | $10 |
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.
- Persona$255
How this compares
$32,496 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 377 orthopaedic surgery providers in Arizona.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Diclofenac Sodium | 451 | $17,741 |
| Etodolac | 59 | $2,257 |
| Meloxicam | 503 | $1,340 |
| Celecoxib | 48 | $1,332 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 123 | $1,069 |
| Ibuprofen | 49 | $686 |
| Doxycycline Hyclate | 20 | $348 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 63 | $237 |
| Amitriptyline Hcl | 13 | $120 |
| Prednisone | 28 | $76 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 12 | $74 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Yuma
- Michael TracyYuma$45K
- Evan LedermanPhoenix$12M
- James ChowPhoenix$6.1M
- Michael McKeePhoenix$3.4M
- Henry ClarkePhoenix$1.9M
- Mark CampbellSun City West$788K
- Samuel HarmsenPhoenix$735K
- John LankenauLake Havasu City$669K
- Paul GauseScottsdale$614K
- Bertrand KaperScottsdale$482K
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.