Thomas Whisenhunt, PhD
Neurological Surgery · Auburn, ALNPI 1275736365
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (50.4%), education and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 28 manufacturers reported payments, led by Life Spine, Inc. at 42.0% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $3,947, 4.8 times the $820 reported in 2019.
Across 142 payments — averaging $70.90 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Life Spine, Inc.$4K
- Medacta USA, Inc.$2K
- Abbott$1K
- Providence Medical Technology, Inc.$620
- Stryker$589
- Medtronic$391
- plus $1K from 22 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$2,27423%
- Food & beverage$5,07050%
- Education$2,72527%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Life Spine, Inc. | 16 | $4,230 |
| Medacta USA, Inc. | 11 | $1,705 |
| Abbott | 49 | $1,345 |
| Providence Medical Technology, Inc. | 11 | $620 |
| Stryker | 6 | $589 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 11 | $391 |
| 4web, Inc. | 4 | $240 |
| Cerapedics Inc. | 1 | $140 |
| Arbor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 6 | $118 |
| Novocure Inc. | 1 | $93 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 4 | $76 |
| Centinel Spine, LLC | 1 | $75 |
| DJO, LLC | 1 | $48 |
| Kls-martin L.p. | 2 | $44 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 2 | $41 |
| Boston Scientific | 3 | $40 |
| Novapproach Spine, LLC | 1 | $35 |
| CGG Medical Inc | 1 | $29 |
| Ossdsign USA Incorporated | 1 | $28 |
| Portola Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 2 | $26 |
| Ossur Americas, Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $21 |
| Radius Health, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Ceribell, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Spineology Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Globus Medical | 1 | $20 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $16 |
| Lemaitre Vascular, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
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.
- ProLift Lateral$2,835
- SENTRY LATERAL PLATING SYSTEM$2,725
- MYSPINE$1,377
- ProLift$1,090
- ARx$944
- PROCLAIM$494
- AVIATOR$416
- ELEVATE$206
- Centerline Thoracolumbar Spinal System$146
- GRUVE ANTERIOR CERVICAL PLATE System$146
- SPINE TRUSS SYSTEM$144
- I-FACTOR PEPTIDE ENHANCED BONE GRAFT$140
- MUST$119
- Proclaim IPG$108
How this compares
$10,068 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 97 neurological surgery providers in Alabama.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 134 | $1,440 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 112 | $1,093 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other neurological surgery in Auburn
- John JohnsonHuntsville$250K
- Cheng TaoHuntsville$236K
- Mark HadleyBirmingham$104K
- Andrew ErwoodBirmingham$85K
- Marshall HollandBirmingham$81K
- Joel PickettHuntsville$72K
- Richard MengerMobile$70K
- Jason BanksHuntsville$65K
- Jakub GodzikBirmingham$56K
- Adnan ShahidBirmingham$50K
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.