Amy Kells, MD
Plastic Surgery · Saint Louis, MONPI 1912002148
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — travel and lodging (47.9%), food and beverage and education — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 10 manufacturers reported payments, led by Elite Orthopedics, LLC at 43.8% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $1,720 and has fallen 68.3% since, to $545 in 2025.
Across 46 payments — averaging $95.73 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Elite Orthopedics, LLC$2K
- Arthrex$929
- Integra Lifesciences Corporation$371
- Zimmer Biomet$364
- Acera Surgical, Inc.$298
- Polynovo North America LLC$191
- plus $321 from 4 others
Across 7 payments — averaging $5649.29 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- Integra Lifesciences Corporation$40K
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$2,11148%
- Food & beverage$1,62237%
- Education$67015%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Elite Orthopedics, LLC | 10 | $1,929 |
| Arthrex | 13 | $929 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 4 | $371 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 10 | $364 |
| Acera Surgical, Inc. | 3 | $298 |
| Polynovo North America LLC | 2 | $191 |
| Axogen | 1 | $148 |
| Sientra, Inc. | 1 | $114 |
| AbbVie | 1 | $35 |
| Molnlycke Health Care US, LLC | 1 | $24 |
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.
How this compares
$4,404 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 88 plastic surgery providers in Missouri.
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.
Other plastic surgery in Saint Louis
- Donald BuckSaint Louis$945K
- Amber LeisSaint Louis$133K
- Nicholas CalottaSaint Louis$47K
- Justin SacksSaint Louis$36K
- Rachel AnolikSaint Louis$33K
- Dennis NguyenSaint Louis$32K
- Alexander LinSaint Louis$31K
- Robert HaganSaint Louis$23K
- Ketan SharmaSaint Louis$22K
- Michael CurtisSaint Louis$21K
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.