Vikas Rao, MD
Neurological Surgery · Mission Viejo, CANPI 1932349651
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $7,651 of the $11,541 with a category attached, or 66.3%. 32 manufacturers reported payments, led by Microvention, Inc. at 27.9% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $3,608 and has fallen 76.6% since, to $844 in 2025.
Across 183 payments — averaging $63.07 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Microvention, Inc.$3K
- Stryker$3K
- Medtronic$2K
- Globus Medical$1K
- Imperative Care, Inc$351
- Boston Scientific$145
- plus $1K from 26 others
Across 27 payments — averaging $1864.84 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.
- Penumbra, Inc.$50K
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$3,83833%
- Food & beverage$7,65166%
- Education$520%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Microvention, Inc. | 32 | $3,225 |
| Stryker | 34 | $2,795 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 29 | $2,494 |
| Globus Medical(2 entities) | 30 | $1,499 |
| Imperative Care, Inc | 10 | $351 |
| Boston Scientific | 5 | $145 |
| Balt USA, LLC | 1 | $105 |
| Surgalign Spine Technologies, Inc. | 2 | $87 |
| Abbott | 4 | $86 |
| Route 92 Medical, Inc. | 1 | $78 |
| Cardiva Medical, Inc. | 3 | $74 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $53 |
| Trevena, Inc. | 3 | $52 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 3 | $51 |
| AbbVie | 2 | $41 |
| Penumbra, Inc. | 1 | $39 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $38 |
| AstraZeneca | 2 | $37 |
| GT Medical Technologies, Inc | 2 | $35 |
| Nevro Corp. | 2 | $33 |
| Aesculap, Inc. | 1 | $29 |
| Portola Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 1 | $24 |
| Curonix LLC | 1 | $21 |
| Medexus Pharma, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Kls-martin L.p. | 2 | $21 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $17 |
| Microtransponder, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Sight Sciences, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Monteris Medical Corporation | 1 | $14 |
| Merit Medical Systems Inc | 2 | $12 |
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.
- WEB Aneurysm Embolization System$1,703
- STENT$1,053
- SPINEJACK$945
- Pipeline$857
- LVIS$525
- MazorX - Renaissance$459
- HydroSoft 3D$308
- Scepter C$308
- V-GRIP DETACHMENT CONTROLLER$304
- Axium$209
- Rist-5F$192
- TARGET$172
- Solitaire$162
- MARS 3V/3VL$162
- SURPASS EVOLVE$158
- SOLITAIRE X$158
- XLIF$155
- SURPASS$153
- IVAS$144
- WEB$133
How this compares
$11,542 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 773 neurological surgery providers in California.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ClopidogrelClopidogrel Bisulfate | 12 | $199 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other neurological surgery in Mission Viejo
- Alexander TaghvaMission Viejo$345K
- Christopher AmesSan Francisco$7.1M
- Larry KhooLos Angeles$2.8M
- Samy AbdouSan Diego$2.4M
- Bret AbshireMurrieta$2.3M
- William TaylorSan Diego$2.1M
- Tooraj GravoriEncino$2M
- Ali MesiwalaRancho Cucamonga$1.5M
- Joseph OsorioSan Diego$1.3M
- Ian JohnsonFresno$1.3M
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.