Who Paid My Doc
Joseph Obrien
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine Bethesda, MD Medical Doctor
NPI 1437109907 CMS profile 336846
10215 Fernwood Rd Ste 506, Bethesda, MD 20817
General payments
$2,400,677
Research payments
$26,395
Ownership & investment interest
$415,272
Research they led as principal investigator
$145,303
Through program year 2025, Joseph Obrien of Bethesda, MD is reported in the CMS Open Payments database as having received $2,400,677 across 869 general payments and $26,395 in research payments paid to them. Separately, studies naming them as principal investigator received $145,303 in research payments, paid to institutions rather than to them. They also declared ownership or investment interests valued at $415,272 across 3 holdings.
No combined total General, research and ownership are kept apart. Each is reported under its own rules, and ownership is not money that moved at all but the value of a stake held. A meal, a clinical trial grant and a shareholding do not add up to anything meaningful, so this site does not add them. The principal-investigator line is research money paid to institutions for studies they led — not to them — and is not added to anything either.
General payments for this record sit in the 98th percentile of Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine profiles with reported payments. Percentile describes the distribution, not the conduct.
By program year
14 rows| Year | Kind | Relative to this record's peak year | Amount | Records |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | General | $515,553 | 101 | |
| 2024 | General | $302,791 | 122 | |
| 2023 | General | $308,960 | 127 | |
| 2022 | General | $363,180 | 109 | |
| 2022 | Research | $9,895 | 1 | |
| 2021 | General | $345,933 | 159 | |
| 2021 | Research | $2,000 | 1 | |
| 2020 | General | $273,104 | 113 | |
| 2020 | Research | $7,500 | 1 | |
| 2019 | General | $291,155 | 138 | |
| 2019 | Research | $7,000 | 1 | |
| 2021 | Ownership | $138,424 | 1 | |
| 2020 | Ownership | $138,424 | 1 | |
| 2019 | Ownership | $138,424 | 1 |
Beside peers
- Joseph Obrien
- Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine median
- Middle half of Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine
- National median
In program year 2025, general payments to Joseph Obrien were reported at $515,553. Among 1,704 Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine profiles paid that year, the median was $2,061 and the middle half received between $347 and $14,651.
Show as a table
| Year | Joseph Obrien | Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine median | Middle half | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $291,155 | $2,106 | $337–$18,608 | $163 |
| 2020 | $273,104 | $1,213 | $156–$15,082 | $114 |
| 2021 | $345,933 | $1,834 | $271–$15,617 | $132 |
| 2022 | $363,180 | $2,015 | $320–$17,036 | $149 |
| 2023 | $308,960 | $1,925 | $336–$14,599 | $160 |
| 2024 | $302,791 | $2,110 | $341–$12,483 | $164 |
| 2025 | $515,553 | $2,061 | $347–$14,651 | $169 |
Breakdown
A payment can name more than one product, so these amounts overlap and do not add up to the general-payment figure.
Prescribing to Medicare patients
Part D · data year 2024 · 9 drugsPart D claims
292
Drug cost
$2,476
Branded share of claims
5.5%
| Drug | Type | Relative to their largest | Claims | Drug cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celecoxib | Generic | 29 | $882 | |
| Gabapentin | Generic | 51 | $428 | |
| Methylprednisolone | Generic | 57 | $395 | |
| Oxycodone Hcl | Generic | 50 | $260 | |
| Oxycodone-Acetaminophen Oxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | Brand | 16 | $128 | |
| Diclofenac Sodium | Generic | 11 | $112 | |
| Tramadol Hcl | Generic | 24 | $97 | |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | Generic | 14 | $88 | |
| Diazepam | Generic | 40 | $86 |
Drug cost is what was paid for the drugs at the pharmacy — by Medicare, the patient and others — and is not money to the prescriber. Medicare Part D only: drugs dispensed to Medicare beneficiaries. A drug with fewer than 11 claims for this prescriber is not published, so a missing drug does not mean zero. The medians are for the 18,934 Part D prescribers listed as Orthopedic Surgery; they describe a distribution and say nothing about conduct.
Billing to Medicare
Part B · data year 2024 · 72 billing codesPaid by Medicare
$564,482
Medicare patients
613
Services billed
3,304
| Condition among their Medicare patients | Relative to the most common | Share of patients |
|---|---|---|
| Arthritis | 75% | |
| High blood pressure | 74% | |
| Ischemic heart disease | 28% | |
| Depression | 26% | |
| Osteoporosis | 26% | |
| Diabetes | 25% | |
| Cancer | 16% | |
| Chronic kidney disease | 13% |
Medicare Part B only: services billed to Medicare. Rows covering fewer than 11 beneficiaries are not published. Only drugs given in the clinic are itemised here; the rest of what this provider billed is in the total above.
Records
873 reportedEvery payment, record by record
Date, company, amount, what it was for and the product named — filter by year, kind and company, or download as CSV.
Other Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine in Maryland
John Carbone
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Baltimore, MD
Steven Ludwig
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Baltimore, MD
Paul McAfee
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Baltimore, MD
Ira Fedder
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Towson, MD
Scott McGovern
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Salisbury, MD
Amit Jain
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Baltimore, MD
Related records
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine in Maryland
Practitioners in the same specialty and state, ranked by reported value.
All Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine
Everyone recorded under this specialty, nationwide.
Doctors in Maryland
Every practitioner in the state with a reported payment.
How to read this page
What each amount means, and what it does not mean.
What this means
U.S. law requires drug and medical device manufacturers to report payments and transfers of value they make to physicians and teaching hospitals. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services publishes that record each year. This page shows what was reported about this person, and nothing else.
An ownership interest is different from the other two. It is not a payment: it is a stake — shares, options, a partnership holding — that a physician or an immediate family member held in a manufacturer during that year. The figure shown is what the stake was reported to be worth.
Research payments frequently pass through a clinician to the institution running a trial, and rarely represent personal income. They should be read differently from general payments.