Thomas Wascher, MD
Neurological Surgery · Appleton, WINPI 1447242573
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by royalties or licence payments: $397,931 of the $570,013 with a category attached, or 69.8%. Medtronic accounts for 91.9% of it on its own, with 14 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $301,611 and has fallen 99.8% since, to $474 in 2025. Among neurological surgery clinicians in WI with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 45 payments — averaging $12,667 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medtronic$524K
- Titan Spine, LLC$43K
- Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.$1K
- Innovasis Inc$460
- Endo USA, Inc.$330
- Globus Medical$286
- plus $392 from 9 others
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$397,93170%
- Consulting fees$1,5410%
- Food & beverage$1,7880%
- Other$168,75230%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 21 | $524,025 |
| Titan Spine, LLC | 2 | $43,309 |
| Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 2 | $1,211 |
| Innovasis Inc | 5 | $460 |
| Endo USA, Inc. | 1 | $330 |
| Globus Medical | 4 | $286 |
| Biocomposites Inc | 1 | $89 |
| Providence Medical Technology, Inc. | 1 | $68 |
| Cerapedics Inc. | 1 | $53 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $47 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $39 |
| Nexxt Spine LLC | 1 | $36 |
| Pfizer | 2 | $30 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Augmedics Inc. | 1 | $13 |
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.
- nanoLOCK-C$188,883
- nanoLOCK-L$110,306
- nanoLOCK$43,309
- Endoskeleton$43,309
- INFINITY OCCIPITOCERVICAL UPPER THORACIC SYSTEM$161
- UNID_PASS$152
- Excelsius - GPS$124
- StealthStation$110
How this compares
$570,013 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 133 neurological surgery providers in Wisconsin.
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 | 35 | $336 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 40 | $177 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other neurological surgery in Appleton
- Joseph ChabotAppleton$17K
- Karl GreenePleasant Prairie$2.1M
- Amin KassamMilwaukee$1M
- Max LeeMilwaukee$456K
- Kevin WojcikMilwaukee$58K
- Saman ShabaniMilwaukee$56K
- Marjorie WangMilwaukee$52K
- Azam AhmedMadison$35K
- Nathan ZwagermanMilwaukee$34K
- Dan HeffezMilwaukee$31K
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.