CMS Open Payments · 2024
Dr. Joseph Obrien
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · BETHESDA, MD · NPI 1437109907
Many doctors share a name — check the specialty and city above match your doctor before you read this as theirs.
Not all payments mean the same thing. Split apart:
Meals, speaking fees, travel, consulting — money from companies marketing their products. This is the relationship to weigh against a recommendation. For this doctor it is substantial.
Income for a device or method the doctor invented or owns — large for some surgeons, and not a conflict over what to prescribe you.
This is well above what most doctors receive in promotional payments — a relationship worth being aware of when weighing a recommendation.
Largest paying companies
The companies that paid this doctor the most in 2024 — each company's full total (promotional + research + royalty), from CMS's separate by-company report, so these may not add up to the split above.
What the payments were for
What this is — and is not
This is the public record companies are required by law to report (the Sunshine Act). A disclosed payment is a financial relationship — it is not proof of wrongdoing, and not evidence that it changed your care. Many payments are entirely legitimate (research, royalties for inventions, education). The point is transparency: you get to know, and to ask. It is not a rating of Dr. Joseph Obrien.
Also available: structured data · plain text. Verify at CMS Open Payments (NPI 1437109907).