William Nicholson
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — education (31.9%), consulting fees and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 12 manufacturers reported payments, led by Intuitive Surgical at 39.0% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $27,015, 2.7 times the $10,040 reported in 2019. Among surgery clinicians in TX 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.
Across 246 payments — averaging $287.52 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$28K
- Medtronic$22K
- Johnson & Johnson$13K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$5K
- Covidien LP$1K
- Heron Therapeutics, Inc.$622
- plus $798 from 6 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$19,77028%
- Speaking & faculty fees$5,6688%
- Travel & lodging$11,88717%
- Food & beverage$10,84115%
- Education$22,55532%
- Gifts$90%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Surgical | 57 | $27,605 |
| Medtronic | 116 | $21,795 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 31 | $13,350 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 16 | $5,164 |
| Covidien LP | 8 | $1,395 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 6 | $622 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 7 | $563 |
| Abbott | 1 | $148 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $31 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 1 | $24 |
| Olympus America Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $13 |
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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$24,964
- Echelon Flex$14,601
- ECHELON ENDOPATH$12,717
- Signia$3,351
- LigaSure$2,260
- DAVINCI XI$1,500
- Harmonic$1,407
- Enseal$1,170
- STRATAFIX$1,170
- TA$1,050
- Zynrelef$394
- GORE SEAMGUARD Bioabsorbable Staple Line Reinforce$281
- LINX Reflux Management System$261
- ECHELON FLEX Stapler$221
- VISTASEAL$214
- Ultreon$148
- iDrive$137
- SEAMGUARD Bioabsorbable Staple Line Reinforcement$112
- HARMONIC Product Family$111
- SURGICEL Family of Absorbable Hemostats$110
How this compares
$70,729 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 1,830 surgery providers in Texas.
Other surgery in Plano
- Dean CionePlano$322K
- Julianne SantarosaPlano$303K
- Michael HarkinsTomball$2.7M
- Douglas StoddardAustin$1.4M
- Steven FassAustin$989K
- Vineet ChoudhryAustin$851K
- Andy HawthorneRound Rock$843K
- Nancy MarquezAustin$700K
- Sachin KukrejaDallas$640K
- Alejandro EsquivelAustin$631K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.