Tristan Lai, MD
Interventional Pain Medicine · Spring Branch, TXNPI 1699976217
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $14,470 of the $23,966 with a category attached, or 60.4%. Abbott accounts for 66.1% of it on its own, with 27 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $8,672, 7.9 times the $1,096 reported in 2019.
Across 440 payments — averaging $54.47 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Abbott$16K
- Boston Scientific$3K
- Medtronic$2K
- Relievant Medsystems, Inc.$503
- Si-bone, Inc.$400
- Saluda Medical Americas, Inc.$362
- plus $2K from 22 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$6,80028%
- Travel & lodging$2,69611%
- Food & beverage$14,47060%
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 | 250 | $15,845 |
| Boston Scientific | 34 | $2,678 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 62 | $2,377 |
| Relievant Medsystems, Inc. | 3 | $503 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 10 | $400 |
| Saluda Medical Americas, Inc. | 4 | $362 |
| Nevro Corp. | 8 | $338 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 9 | $224 |
| Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 11 | $167 |
| SPR Therapeutics, Inc | 3 | $144 |
| Globus Medical | 5 | $139 |
| Vertiflex, Inc. | 1 | $87 |
| Nalu Medical, Inc. | 4 | $84 |
| Biotronik NRO, Inc. | 3 | $83 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 6 | $83 |
| Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. | 5 | $81 |
| Scilex Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 4 | $62 |
| Pfizer | 3 | $49 |
| GRT US Holding, Inc. | 3 | $48 |
| Almatica Pharma LLC | 3 | $41 |
| Orthogenrx Inc. | 2 | $39 |
| Vertos Medical, Inc. | 1 | $38 |
| Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd. | 1 | $25 |
| Vertex | 1 | $19 |
| Daiichi Sankyo Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Redhill Biopharma Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| MDD US Operations, LLC | 1 | $12 |
| Assertio Therapeutics, 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$8,745
- Intracept$3,285
- SYNCHROMEDII$1,236
- ETERNA$665
- Prodigy Family of SCS IPGs$510
- Proclaim IPG$269
- PRODIGY$234
- Proclaim Family of SCS IPGs$219
- IonicRF$215
- Evoke SCS$160
- Intracept RF Probe$150
- Penta SCS Leads$146
- Axium$143
- Evoke$141
- OCTRODE$132
- Senza$127
- iFuse Implant$125
- Axium Sheath Braided DRG$113
- Axium INS DRG IPG$113
- INTELLIS ADAPTIVESTIM$100
How this compares
$23,966 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Xtampza ErOxycodone Myristate | 55 | $32,154 |
| Buprenorphine | 108 | $27,839 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 834 | $27,421 |
| OxycontinOxycodone Hcl | 17 | $9,292 |
| Celecoxib | 219 | $9,156 |
| Hysingla ErHydrocodone Bitartrate | 17 | $5,663 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 243 | $5,401 |
| Gabapentin | 257 | $4,291 |
| Lidocaine | 28 | $3,372 |
| Pregabalin | 111 | $3,233 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 122 | $2,835 |
| Methocarbamol | 172 | $2,418 |
| Acetaminophen-CodeineAcetaminophen With Codeine | 69 | $1,817 |
| Duloxetine Hcl | 65 | $1,756 |
| Hydromorphone Hcl | 90 | $1,692 |
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.Xtampza Er | $167 | $32,15455 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 80th percentile of 287 interventional pain medicine providers in Texas.
Other interventional pain medicine in Spring Branch
- Gabor RaczLubbock$3M
- Pankaj MehtaKilleen$2.1M
- Chad StephensSouthlake$1M
- Ankur KhoslaShenandoah$277K
- Brian RichDecatur$245K
- Brian BruelHouston$219K
- Bolkar SahinlerLubbock$188K
- Timothy RatinoFort Worth$139K
- Genaro GutierrezAustin$125K
- Thomas WhiteShenandoah$118K
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.