Tianyi Niu, MD
Neurological Surgery · Providence, RINPI 1891051702
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (51.1%), travel and lodging and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 27 manufacturers reported payments, led by Stryker at 29.8% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $21,462 and has fallen 79.6% since, to $4,377 in 2025. Among neurological surgery clinicians in RI with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 645 payments — averaging $112.09 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Stryker$22K
- Kuros Biosciences USA, Inc$10K
- Carlsmed, Inc.$9K
- Globus Medical$9K
- Depuy Synthes Products, Inc.$6K
- Cerapedics Inc.$6K
- plus $11K from 21 others
Across 1 payment — averaging $1842.56 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.
- Innovation Technologies Inc$2K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$16,14122%
- Travel & lodging$19,10026%
- Food & beverage$36,94551%
- Education$1110%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stryker | 377 | $21,551 |
| Kuros Biosciences USA, Inc | 18 | $9,501 |
| Carlsmed, Inc. | 74 | $9,069 |
| Globus Medical | 97 | $8,571 |
| Depuy Synthes Products, Inc. | 4 | $6,338 |
| Cerapedics Inc. | 5 | $6,119 |
| Alphatec Spine, Inc | 12 | $3,471 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 12 | $3,383 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 12 | $1,013 |
| Curiteva, Inc. | 1 | $509 |
| KCI USA, Inc. | 2 | $474 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 6 | $410 |
| Spineart USA Inc | 3 | $351 |
| VB Spine LLC | 4 | $283 |
| Spineology Inc. | 3 | $272 |
| Icotec Medical Inc. | 1 | $142 |
| Spinal Elements, Inc. | 1 | $129 |
| Highridge Medical LLC | 1 | $102 |
| Integrity Implants Inc. | 1 | $96 |
| Osteoremedies, LLC | 1 | $89 |
| Ossdsign USA Incorporated | 1 | $85 |
| Centinel Spine, LLC | 1 | $79 |
| Abbott | 1 | $75 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 3 | $73 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 1 | $52 |
| DJO, LLC | 2 | $47 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 1 | $14 |
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.
- MagnetOs$8,960
- aprevo$6,734
- I-FACTOR PEPTIDE ENHANCED BONE GRAFT$6,008
- HARMONIC OSTEOVUE$4,500
- EVEREST SPINAL SYSTEM$3,913
- Excelsius Robotics System$2,624
- IFUSE IMPLANT SYSTEM$2,400
- ExcelsiusGPS Robotic Navigation System$2,338
- Other - Miscellaneous$2,177
- CASCADIA INTERBODY SYSTEM$856
- YUKON OCT SPINAL SYSTEM$756
- Excelsius - GPS$654
- MESA SPINAL SYSTEM$553
- PREVENA$425
- AIRO$412
- TRITANIUM$321
- ALEUTIAN INTERBODY SYSTEMS$302
- RAVINE LATERAL ACCESS SYSTEM$289
- Scarlet AL-T$267
- EVEREST$251
How this compares
$72,297 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 37 neurological surgery providers in Rhode Island.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Methocarbamol | 76 | $17,655 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 25 | $374 |
| Gabapentin | 41 | $360 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 37 | $205 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 26 | $163 |
| Baclofen | 24 | $160 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other neurological surgery in Providence
- Albert TelfeianProvidence$148K
- Clark ChenProvidence$104K
- Radmehr TorabiProvidence$45K
- Theresa WilliamsonProvidence$45K
- Ki-Eun ChangProvidence$40K
- Prakash SampathProvidence$37K
- Adetokunbo OyeleseProvidence$22K
- Raj ThakrarProvidence$21K
- Oluwaseun AkinduroProvidence$9K
- Jonathan NakhlaProvidence$8K
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.