Vivek Kushwaha, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Houston, TXNPI 1982681730
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by royalties or licence payments: $426,316 of the $573,279 with a category attached, or 74.4%. Spineart SA accounts for 74.4% of it on its own, with 30 other manufacturers making up the rest. Among orthopaedic surgery of the spine clinicians in TX 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 197 payments — averaging $2910.05 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Spineart SA$426K
- Spinefrontier, Inc.$93K
- Spineart USA Inc$45K
- Providence Medical Technology, Inc.$2K
- Spinal Elements, Inc.$1K
- Amgen$953
- plus $5K from 25 others
Across 18 payments — averaging $3275.72 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.
- Premia Spine, Ltd.$59K
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$426,31674%
- Consulting fees$102,51318%
- Travel & lodging$28,7005%
- Food & beverage$15,7163%
- Education$350%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Spineart SA | 10 | $426,316 |
| Spinefrontier, Inc. | 13 | $93,015 |
| Spineart USA Inc | 56 | $45,291 |
| Providence Medical Technology, Inc. | 17 | $1,925 |
| Spinal Elements, Inc. | 14 | $1,137 |
| Amgen | 37 | $953 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 7 | $791 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 5 | $379 |
| Abbott | 5 | $374 |
| Genesys Orthopedics Systems, L.L.C. | 2 | $369 |
| Globus Medical(2 entities) | 2 | $311 |
| Alphatec Spine, Inc | 1 | $269 |
| Stryker | 3 | $246 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 3 | $203 |
| Nevro Corp. | 3 | $200 |
| Osseus Fusion Systems, LLC | 2 | $187 |
| Carlsmed, Inc. | 1 | $185 |
| Cerapedics Inc. | 1 | $154 |
| Bioventus LLC | 2 | $149 |
| Next Science LLC | 1 | $146 |
| Clariance, Inc. | 1 | $142 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 2 | $142 |
| Stability Biologics, LLC | 1 | $126 |
| Davol Inc. | 1 | $118 |
| Intrinsic Therapeutics | 1 | $70 |
| Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Alafair Biosciences, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Pfizer | 1 | $14 |
| Radius Health, Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| Baudax Bio Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| Electronic Waveform Lab, Inc. | 1 | $5 |
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.
- PERLA TL - DEGENERATIVE SCREW$339,503
- PERLA C$99,189
- PedFuse Return$92,861
- Invue$92,861
- SacroFuse$92,861
- SLIFT$92,861
- Perla TL$7,729
- Scarlet AL-T$3,682
- SCARLET AC-T$829
- JULIET TL Ti$809
- Medical Device$602
- MAZOR X SYSTEM$557
- PROCLAIM$309
- Juliet LL$270
- EXPEDIUM$240
- TiLock$227
- aprevo$185
- ExcelsiusGPS Robotic Navigation System$174
- MAKO$166
- I-FACTOR PEPTIDE ENHANCED BONE GRAFT$154
How this compares
$573,279 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 207 orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Texas.
See all orthopaedic surgery of the spine 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Acetaminophen-CodeineAcetaminophen With Codeine | 151 | $2,539 |
| Gabapentin | 127 | $1,604 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 161 | $1,573 |
| Meloxicam | 304 | $1,075 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 131 | $718 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 89 | $580 |
| Methylprednisolone | 97 | $580 |
| Diclofenac Sodium | 49 | $457 |
| Carisoprodol | 39 | $416 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 74 | $383 |
| Pregabalin | 13 | $229 |
| Celecoxib | 13 | $164 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery of the spine in Houston
- David WimberleyHouston$2.2M
- Shah-Nawaz DodwadHouston$710K
- Leonard KibuuleHouston$621K
- Robert MohrHouston$352K
- Bernhard MeyerHouston$238K
- Ryan StuckeyHouston$181K
- Rex MarcoHouston$174K
- Richard FrancisHouston$156K
- Ra'kerry RahmanHouston$45K
- Randall DryerAustin$2.9M
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.