Medicare Enrolled

Dr. Brent Alford, M.D.

Neurological Surgery · Fort Worth, TX
Practice pattern: Clinical Cardiology— Primarily office-based clinical cardiology
Mixed engagement
1900 MISTLETOE BLVD STE 200, Fort Worth, TX 76104
8178785333
In practice since 2006 (19 years)
NPI: 1467488288 verify on NPPES ↗
Very High
DATA COVERAGE
Data in 4 of 4 federal sources
Measures public federal data availability — not provider quality
Informational, not a quality rating. This page presents federal public records about Dr. Alford from CMS (NPPES, Open Payments, Medicare Provider Utilization, PECOS). It is not medical advice, an endorsement, or a judgment of clinical quality. Always consult the provider directly and a licensed clinician for medical decisions. Read methodology →
Are you Dr. Alford? Request a correction or review of any data shown here. Provider portal →

What this data tells you about Dr. Alford

Dr. Brent Alford is a neurological surgery in Fort Worth, TX, with 19 years in practice. Based on federal Medicare data, Dr. Alford performed 1,336 Medicare services across 961 unique beneficiaries.

Between the years covered by Open Payments, Dr. Alford received a total of $221,085 from 53 pharmaceutical and/or device companies across 163 individual payments. These payments are legal, publicly disclosed under the federal Sunshine Act, and common in neurological surgery. The majority of payments are classified as financial or ownership interests (royalties, licensing fees, or investment interests). Patients may wish to discuss these relationships with their provider.

The Data Coverage level for Dr. Alford is Very High — reflecting how much public federal data is available about this provider. This is not a quality rating. Patients are encouraged to use this data as one of several factors when choosing a healthcare provider.

✓ 19 years in practice▲ Top 5% volume in TX$ $221,085 industry payments

Medicare Practice Summary

Medicare Utilization ↗
1,336
Medicare services
Top 5% in TX for neurological surgery
961
Unique beneficiaries
$131
Avg. Medicare payment
Medicare patients only (65+ / disabled) · Not a quality rating · How to read this →
~70 Medicare services per year of practice

Top procedures by volume

Ranked by number of services performed for Medicare patients. Avg. submitted charge is what the provider billed; avg. Medicare payment is what CMS paid.

ProcedureVolumeAvg. paidAvg. submitted
Office visit, established patient (20-29 min)413$67$225
New patient office visit (45-59 min)151$117$494
X-ray of lower and sacral spine, minimum of 4 views108$38$146
Office visit, established patient (30-39 min)108$92$327
Office visit, established patient (10-19 min)83$42$136
X-ray of upper spine, 4-5 views73$39$152
Fusion of additional segment of spine71$288$1,165
Hospital follow-up visit, moderate complexity51$62$218
Insertion of cage or mesh device to spine bone and disc space during spine fusion45$196$769
Harvest of bone fragment for spine bone graft42$124$500
Partial removal of spine bone with release of spinal cord and/or nerves, each additional segment39$155$628
New patient office visit (30-44 min)25$84$323
Initial hospital admission, high complexity23$135$610
Fusion of upper spine bone with removal of disc and release of spinal cord or nerve, each additional disc20$300$1,179
Fusion of spine in lower back17$994$4,750
X-ray of middle spine, 2 views16$23$95
Fusion of upper spine bone with removal of disc and release of spinal cord or nerve, 1 disc14$1,289$5,064
Placement of spinal cord graft14$493$3,239
Placement of stabilizing device to back, 3-6 spine bone segments12$530$2,271
Partial removal of spine bone with release of lower spinal cord and/or nerves, 1 segment11$543$3,286
How to read this data: This reflects Medicare patients only (typically 65+). Payment amounts are what Medicare paid the provider, not your out-of-pocket cost. A higher procedure volume generally indicates more experience with that procedure.
12.5% high complexity
0.0% medium
87.5% routine

Industry Payment Transparency

Open Payments through 2024 ↗
$221,085
Total received (2018-2024)
Avg $31,584/year across 7 years
Top 5% in TX for neurological surgery
53
Companies
163
Individual payments
All payments are legal and publicly reported · Not evidence of wrongdoing · How to interpret →

Payment profile

Industry payments classified by relationship type. Not all payments are equal — research and consulting reflect different relationships than speaking programs or meals.

Financial / Ownership
Ownership or investment interests, royalties, and licensing fees
$193,000 (87.3%)
Meals & Travel
Food, beverages, travel, and lodging — typically low-value
$15,322 (6.9%)
Consulting
Expert advisory fees, typically reflecting recognized clinical expertise
$12,763 (5.8%)

Payment trend by year

Annual totals from pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

2024
$10,873
2023
$8,475
2022
$5,974
2021
$113
2020
$48
2019
$116,371
2018
$79,231

Payments by company (2024)

Consulting
Speaking
Meals & Travel
Research
Fort Worth Surgical Supply, LLC
$193,000
XTANT MEDICAL INC
$10,263
IMPLANET America, Inc.
$8,018
Nalu Medical, Inc.
$2,500
Surgalign Spine Technologies, Inc.
$2,493
Providence Medical Technology, Inc.
$522
Cerapedics, Inc.
$424
Boston Scientific Corporation
$406
Integra LifeSciences Corporation
$348
Abbott Laboratories
$316
Terumo BCT, Inc.
$274
Intrinsic Therapeutics
$193
Ethicon US, LLC
$165
Xtant Medical Inc
$146
Smith+Nephew, Inc.
$144
Organogenesis Inc.
$143
LivaNova USA, Inc.
$139
Orthofix Medical, Inc.
$129
Medtronic USA, Inc.
$127
Arteriocyte Medical Systems, Inc.
$123
Nevro Corp.
$109
Stryker Corporation
$95
PORTOLA PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
$77
Centinel Spine, LLC
$76
Avanos Medical
$66
Vertiflex, Inc.
$57
Highridge Medical LLC
$57
BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORPORATION
$52
PFIZER INC.
$51
Nuvectra Corporation
$45
NuVasive, Inc.
$44
HydroCision, Inc.
$40
MEDACTA USA, INC.
$40
Aesculap, Inc.
$39
DePuy Synthes Sales Inc.
$38
SPINAL ELEMENTS, INC.
$33
Omniscient Neurotechnology America Ltd
$31
Innovation Technologies Inc
$25
Baxter Healthcare
$22
Medacta USA, Inc.
$21
Medexus Pharma, Inc.
$19
PAINTEQ LLC
$19
Nexxt Spine LLC
$18
Bioventus LLC
$17
Mallinckrodt LLC
$16
KLS-Martin L.P.
$16
Spineology Inc.
$16
Sanara MedTech Inc.
$14
Olympus America Inc.
$14
Smith & Nephew, Inc.
$12
AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP
$12
Misonix Inc
$12
DJO, LLC
$11
Top 3 companies account for 95.6% of total payments
Associated products mentioned in payments ›
12.5MM X 50MM · ADAPTIVESTIM · ANDEXXA · ARAI SURGICAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM · Algovita · BARRICAID ACD (ANNULAR CLOSURE DEVICE) · Biomet SpinalPak Non-invasive Spine Fusion Stimulator System · Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate System · BoneScalpel · CAVUX Cervical Cage · CD HORIZON · CMF SPINALOGIC · CODMAN CERTAS · COHERE · COOLIEF* COOLED RADIOFREQUENCY · CORTERA · CellerateRx · Cervical-Stim · Cervical-Stim Osteogenesis Stimulator · DRG IPGs · ELAN 4 · EMBLEM · ETERNA · EVEREST SPINAL SYSTEM · FLOSEAL · FORTILINK CAGES WITH TIPLUS TECHNOLOGY · FORTILINK-A IBF SYSTEM · GENERAL - PAIN MANAGEMENT · GENERAL PAIN MANAGEMENT · GRAFTON · General - Pain Management · Gleolan · INFINITY OCT System · IRRISEPT · IVS - CORTOSS · Integra · LYRICA · MOVANTIK · Magellan · MazorX - Renaissance · Medical Devices · Mega Power · MySpine · Nalu Neurostimulation System · Nexxt Matrixx Systems · NuCel · O-ARM-Spine · OFIRMEV · ON-Q* PUMP AND ACCESSORIES · OptiMesh Interbody Fusion System · Osteocel · PAINTEQ · PICO · PICO7 · PROCLAIM · PRODISC C VIVO · Penta SCS Leads · PlasmaBlade · Proclaim Family of SCS IPGs · Quicktome · REYVOW · SCS IPGs · SIMMETRY IMPLANT · SPECTRA WAVEWRITER · STRATAFIX · STREAMLINE TL SPINAL FIXATION SYSTEM · SURGIFLO Hemostatic Matrix · SURGIFLO Hemostatic Matrix Family of Products · Senza Spinal Cord Stimulation System · Spinal-Stim · Superion ISS · TenJet · VERSAJET II · VNS THERAPY SENTIVA MODEL 1000 GENERATOR · VNS Therapy · VNS Therapy SenTiva Model 1000 Generator · ViviGen · WaveWriter Alpha Prime 16 · i-FACTOR Putty
Should you be concerned? Payments from pharmaceutical and device companies are legal and common — 57% of U.S. physicians receive at least one. They often reflect legitimate consulting, research, or education. What matters is whether a recommended drug or device appears in your doctor's payment records. If so, consider asking your doctor about it. How to interpret this data →

Payments are distributed across multiple categories with no single dominant type. Total industry engagement is in the top 5% for neurological surgery in TX.

Equivalent to $16,548 per 100 Medicare services performed
Looking for a neurological surgery in Fort Worth?
Compare neurological surgerys in the Fort Worth area by procedure volume, costs, and industry payment transparency.
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Geographic Context

Neurological Surgerys within 10 mi
48
Per 100K population
2.2
County median income
$81,905
Nearest hospital
JPS HEALTH NETWORK
0.0 mi

Data Sources

Provider Registry NPPESWeekly updates
Medicare Enrollment PECOSMonthly updates
Practice Data Medicare Util.Annual (CY lag)
Industry Payments Open PaymentsCY 2024
Disciplinary History— Not publicN/A

This provider has data in 4 of 4 available federal datasets, with a Data Coverage level of Very High. This measures how much public data is available about a provider — not how good they are. How we calculate this →

Summary

Dr. Alford is a clinical cardiology specialist, with above-average Medicare volume (top 5% in TX), and high industry engagement (mixed engagement, top 5%), with 19 years of practice experience.

This summary is auto-generated from federal data. It describes data availability and patterns — not clinical quality. Read our methodology →

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Dr. Alford experienced with office visit, established patient (20-29 min)?
Based on Medicare claims data, Dr. Alford performed 413 office visit, established patient (20-29 min) services. Research suggests that higher procedure volume is often associated with better outcomes, particularly for complex procedures. Note that Medicare data only captures patients aged 65 and older, so the total practice volume across all patients is likely higher.
Does Dr. Alford receive payments from pharmaceutical companies?
Yes. Dr. Alford received a total of $221,085 from 53 companies across 163 individual payments. These payments are legal, publicly disclosed under the federal Sunshine Act, and common among physicians — 57% of all U.S. physicians receive at least one industry payment. Patients may wish to ask their doctor about these relationships, especially if a recommended drug or device appears in the payment records.
How do Dr. Alford's costs compare to other neurological surgerys in Fort Worth?
Dr. Alford's average Medicare payment per service is $131. Note that these figures represent what Medicare pays, not your out-of-pocket cost, which depends on your specific insurance plan and deductible. Procedure-level data above shows both what was submitted and what Medicare paid for each service type.
What does Data Coverage mean?
Data Coverage (currently Very High for Dr. Alford) measures how much public federal data is available about a provider. It is not a quality rating. A "Very High" or "High" level means the provider has data across multiple federal sources (NPPES, PECOS, Medicare Utilization, Open Payments), indicating a long track record of practice, Medicare participation, and industry disclosure. A "Low" or "Moderate" level may simply mean the provider is newer, does not see Medicare patients, or has not received any industry payments — none of which are inherently negative. Read our full methodology →
Is this data up to date?
Each data source has its own update cycle. Provider registry data (NPPES) is updated weekly. Medicare enrollment (PECOS) is updated monthly. Medicare practice data has a ~2 year lag — the most recent available is typically 2 years prior. Industry payment data (Open Payments) is published annually, usually in June, covering the prior calendar year. We display the data date prominently on each section so you always know how current it is. See our data freshness policy →
About this page

All data on this page is sourced verbatim from public federal records published by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): NPPES ↗, Open Payments ↗, Medicare Provider Utilization ↗, and PECOS. Publication is mandated by the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (§6002 ACA, 42 U.S.C. §1320a-7h) and the Freedom of Information Act.

This page is not medical advice, an endorsement, a recommendation, or a quality rating. The Transparency Score measures data completeness — how much federal information exists for this provider — not clinical performance, patient outcomes, or quality of care. Always verify information directly with the provider and consult a licensed clinician before making medical decisions.

Provider corrections: Provider portal · Privacy questions: Privacy Policy · Terms: Terms of Use · Methodology: Methodology

Data Disclaimer — Data sourced from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), Open Payments program, Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data, and Provider Enrollment & Certification data (PECOS). Published under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This website is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or authorized by CMS, HHS, or the U.S. Government. Data may contain errors as reported to CMS by providers and reporting entities. Payments from industry are legal and do not indicate wrongdoing. Medicare data reflects only patients aged 65+ or those with qualifying disabilities. For corrections, contact CMS directly. This information does not constitute medical advice and should not be used as the sole basis for choosing a healthcare provider. Procedure descriptions use plain language and do not reference CPT® codes, which are copyrighted by the American Medical Association. Full methodology → · Report a data error → · Privacy policy →