Has Vehniah Tjong, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $172,935 in general payments to Vehniah Tjong, MD across 205 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Vehniah Tjong, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Vehniah Tjong, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Vehniah Tjong, MD

Sports Medicine · Chicago, ILNPI 1003201419

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (42.4%), speaking fees and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Smith+Nephew accounts for 96.4% of it on its own, with 14 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $71,262, more than ten times the $2,965 reported in 2019. Among sports medicine clinicians in IL 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.

$172,935in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 205 payments — averaging $843.59 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Smith+Nephew$167K
Medwest Associates$2K
RTI Surgical, Inc$2K
Arthrex$739
Amgen$430
Stryker$405
plus $761 from 9 others

$17,050in research payments, 2019–2025

Across 2 payments — averaging $8525.00 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.

Smith+Nephew$17K

What the payments were for

Consulting fees$73,35942%
Speaking & faculty fees$66,59139%
Travel & lodging$24,48214%
Food & beverage$7,3244%
Education$1,1801%

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
Smith+Nephew	127	$166,773
Medwest Associates	4	$2,078
RTI Surgical, Inc	2	$1,750
Arthrex	14	$739
Amgen	38	$430
Stryker	8	$405
Graymont Equipment Distribution, LLC	2	$272
International Life Sciences	2	$126
Orthofix Medical, Inc.	2	$120
Ossio Inc	1	$83
Xiros Inc	1	$82
Johnson & Johnson	1	$31
Medacta USA, Inc.	1	$16
Orthogenrx Inc.	1	$16
Philips North America LLC	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.

Biosure$29,998
CAP-FIX$29,556
ULTRABUTTON$28,717
Bone Anchors with Arthroscopic Delivery System$26,492
BIORAPTOR$26,297
Q-FIX$22,436
NOVOSTITCH$21,940
SPATIAL FRAME$21,746
Bioinductive Implant with Arthroscopic Delivery System - Medium$14,842
Acufex$12,412
BIOSURE REGENESORB$7,650
Fast-Fix 360$7,650
Regeneten$5,828
LENS 4K$5,244
HEALICOIL REGENESORB$5,100
MICRORAPTOR REGENESORB$5,100
Ambient Wands$5,100
NOVOSTITCH PRO$5,100
Healicoil$4,932
FAST-FIX$4,020

How this compares

$172,935 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 233 sports medicine providers in Illinois.

See all sports medicine providers in Illinois →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$33,065

Medicare patients

106

Services billed

443

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
Diclofenac Sodium	39	$260
Ibuprofen	17	$145

Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.

Other sports medicine in Chicago

Gregory NicholsonChicago$6.7M
Grant GarriguesChicago$2.5M
Brian ColeChicago$2.1M
Brian ForsytheChicago$1.9M
Nikhil VermaChicago$647K
Shane NhoChicago$521K
Aravind AthivirahamChicago$138K
Adam YankeChicago$132K
Nicholas TrasoliniChicago$67K
Nicholas LemmeChicago$49K

See the full list for Illinois →

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.

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