Thomas Merriman, MD
Interventional Pain Medicine · Amarillo, TXNPI 1134179054
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 258 payments — averaging $28.69 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Abbott$5K
- Medtronic$2K
- Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc.$311
- Amgen$116
- Biodelivery Sciences International, Inc.$86
- Novartis$80
- plus $606 from 18 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$1,65722%
- Food & beverage$5,74478%
Most of this is food and beverage — typically meals provided during product presentations at a clinic or hospital. Nationally that is the single largest category of reported payments by count.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Abbott | 124 | $4,520 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 61 | $1,683 |
| Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 29 | $311 |
| Amgen | 2 | $116 |
| Biodelivery Sciences International, Inc. | 6 | $86 |
| Novartis | 4 | $80 |
| AbbVie | 2 | $74 |
| Scilex Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 4 | $72 |
| Pfizer | 5 | $67 |
| SPR Therapeutics, Inc | 1 | $63 |
| Daiichi Sankyo Inc. | 4 | $53 |
| Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2 | $47 |
| Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. | 2 | $31 |
| Pacira Therapeutics, Inc. | 2 | $28 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $25 |
| Epimed International, Inc | 1 | $25 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Ironshore Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Upsher-smith Laboratories LLC | 1 | $16 |
| Baudax Bio Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Zyla Life Sciences, Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| Nevro Corp. | 1 | $12 |
| Vertiflex, Inc. | 1 | $11 |
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.
- PROCLAIM$1,513
- VANTA ADAPTIVESTIM$424
- ETERNA$270
- PENTA$152
- AIMOVIG$111
- SYNCHROMEDII$109
- IonicRF$101
How this compares
$7,401 in reported general payments places this provider in the 50th percentile of 287 interventional pain medicine 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 1,583 | $46,863 |
| NucyntaTapentadol Hcl | 23 | $25,065 |
| Xtampza ErOxycodone Myristate | 19 | $18,700 |
| OxycontinOxycodone Hcl | 22 | $17,900 |
| Buprenorphine | 64 | $17,168 |
| Morphine Sulfate ErMorphine Sulfate | 240 | $8,399 |
| Fentanyl | 63 | $7,191 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 262 | $6,154 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 124 | $3,129 |
| Pregabalin | 98 | $2,035 |
| Acetaminophen-CodeineAcetaminophen With Codeine | 85 | $1,572 |
| Morphine Sulfate | 78 | $1,551 |
| Buprenorphine-NaloxoneBuprenorphine Hcl/Naloxone Hcl | 12 | $1,338 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 58 | $1,206 |
| Gabapentin | 108 | $1,149 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Companies that both paid and supply prescribed drugs
These companies both reported payments to this provider and make drugs the provider prescribed under Medicare Part D in 2024. For most specialties this overlap is expected — a cardiologist who is paid by a cardiology drugmaker also treats heart disease. It is shown so the reader can see it, not because it implies anything on its own.
| Company | Paid to this provider | Part D cost of their drugs |
|---|---|---|
| Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc.Nucynta, Xtampza Er | $311 | $43,76542 claims |
| Upsher-smith Laboratories LLCTopiramate | $16 | $6016 claims |
Reading this fairly. The Part D column is what drug plans and patients paid pharmacies — this provider received none of it, and it reflects how many patients they treat and what those drugs cost. Against peers, this provider's reported payments sit in the 50th percentile of 287 interventional pain medicine providers in Texas.
Other interventional pain medicine in Amarillo
- Gabor RaczLubbock$3M
- Pankaj MehtaKilleen$2.2M
- Genaro GutierrezAustin$1.3M
- Chad StephensSouthlake$1.1M
- Ioannis SkaribasHouston$979K
- Duane GriffithTyler$730K
- Brannon FrankAustin$698K
- Robert WillsRound Rock$692K
- Ankur KhoslaShenandoah$511K
- Brian RichDecatur$245K
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.