Aaron Ruter, DPM
Foot & Ankle Surgery · Chesterton, INNPI 1629411723
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by speaking fees: $10,000 of the $16,593 with a category attached, or 60.3%. DNE LLC accounts for 62.4% of it on its own, with 18 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $10,747 and has fallen 84.7% since, to $1,648 in 2025.
Across 128 payments — averaging $129.63 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- DNE LLC$10K
- Stryker$2K
- Convatec Inc.$931
- Organogenesis Inc.$767
- Extremity Medical$602
- Lightbody Medical Technologies Inc$529
- plus $945 from 13 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$10,00060%
- Travel & lodging$2,30614%
- Food & beverage$4,28726%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| DNE LLC | 3 | $10,347 |
| Stryker | 36 | $2,472 |
| Convatec Inc. | 4 | $931 |
| Organogenesis Inc. | 38 | $767 |
| Extremity Medical | 3 | $602 |
| Lightbody Medical Technologies Inc | 2 | $529 |
| Arthrex | 3 | $318 |
| Smith+Nephew | 17 | $237 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 3 | $123 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 8 | $79 |
| Axogen | 1 | $34 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $25 |
| Zyla Life Sciences, Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $22 |
| Bioventus LLC | 2 | $21 |
| Checkpoint Surgical, Inc | 1 | $17 |
| Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Amgen | 1 | $14 |
| Electronic Waveform Lab, Inc. | 2 | $14 |
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.
- InnovaMatrix AC$872
- HOFFMANN$312
- AUGMENT INJECTABLE$304
- ACTISHIELD CF$171
- Viaflow$169
- INVISION$163
- ORTHOLOC 2 LAPIFUSE$159
- SONICANCHOR$155
- NEUROMEND$155
- INBONE$153
- AXSOS$149
- Puraply Antimicrobial$125
How this compares
$16,593 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 212 foot & ankle surgery providers in Indiana.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pregabalin | 65 | $2,273 |
| Gabapentin | 208 | $1,999 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 98 | $1,038 |
| Cephalexin | 66 | $558 |
| Meloxicam | 187 | $357 |
| Amitriptyline Hcl | 36 | $263 |
| Amoxicillin-Clavulanate PotassAmoxicillin/Potassium Clav | 25 | $205 |
| Clindamycin Hcl | 21 | $164 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 28 | $164 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 22 | $92 |
| Methylprednisolone | 18 | $88 |
| Levofloxacin | 18 | $84 |
| Baclofen | 14 | $25 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other foot & ankle surgery in Chesterton
- Steven HerbstMuncie$1.6M
- Douglas BlacklidgeKokomo$689K
- Patrick DeheerIndianapolis$493K
- Scott NevilleMooresville$353K
- Travis MontgomeryWestfield$345K
- Robert Clemency IiiSchererville$215K
- William AdamsGreenfield$178K
- Steven DouthettFort Wayne$153K
- Christopher WintersCarmel$152K
- Brian ElliottShelbyville$142K
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.