Belal Tarakji, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Flint, MINPI 1275913246
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 87 payments — averaging $244.93 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Arthrex$11K
- Skeletal Dynamics Inc$2K
- Stryker$2K
- CDC Medical LLC$1K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$1K
- Zimmer Biomet$1K
- plus $2K from 12 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$1081%
- Grants$10,00047%
- Travel & lodging$5,53426%
- Food & beverage$3,41416%
- Education$2,25311%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Arthrex | 8 | $11,070 |
| Skeletal Dynamics Inc | 3 | $2,471 |
| Stryker | 27 | $2,434 |
| CDC Medical LLC | 1 | $1,200 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 7 | $1,029 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 16 | $1,011 |
| Zak Ortho | 5 | $914 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $208 |
| Acumed LLC | 5 | $162 |
| Anika Therapeutics, Inc. | 3 | $152 |
| Axogen | 2 | $149 |
| Next Science LLC | 1 | $136 |
| Medacta USA, Inc. | 1 | $117 |
| Sanara Medtech Inc. | 1 | $102 |
| KCI USA, Inc. | 1 | $62 |
| Medwest Associates | 2 | $39 |
| Trimed, Inc. | 1 | $31 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $23 |
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.
- Geminus$2,471
- Align$2,471
- IJS$2,471
- Implate$2,471
- BLUEPRINT PATIENT SPECIFIC INSTRUMENTATION$1,294
- Comprehensive Primary Stem$438
- PRO$139
- SurgX$136
- Xperience$136
- BlastX$136
- VARIAX$120
- AVANCE NERVE GRAFT$118
- PRIMARY SHOULDER$117
- TACTOSET$116
- T2$114
- BME NITINOL CONTINUOUS COMPRESSION IMPLANTS$106
- IM NAILS$106
- AEQUALIS PERFORM REVERSED$105
- TFN ADVANCED$103
- CANNULATED SCREWS$103
How this compares
$21,309 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 829 orthopaedic surgery providers in Michigan.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Meloxicam | 200 | $750 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 238 | $472 |
| Methylprednisolone | 87 | $386 |
| Gabapentin | 113 | $379 |
| Ibuprofen | 98 | $222 |
| Ondansetron Hcl | 44 | $128 |
| Prednisone | 34 | $127 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 26 | $61 |
| Cephalexin | 15 | $43 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 21 | $25 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Flint
- Seann WillsonFlint$269K
- Asheesh BediAnn Arbor$9.4M
- Jerome WiaterBeverly Hills$5.7M
- Jad KhalilSouthfield$3.7M
- Mark PintoChelsea$3.2M
- Kyle AndersonBingham Farms$3.1M
- Stephen BartolDetroit$2.6M
- Jeffrey FischgrundSouthfield$1.8M
- David MarkelSouthfield$1.7M
- Richard EastonRochester Hills$1.6M
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.