Benjamin Weisenthal, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Knoxville, TNNPI 1487041661
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (56.7%), travel and lodging and food and beverage — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Choice Spine, LLC accounts for 75.4% of it on its own, with 19 other manufacturers making up the rest.
Across 143 payments — averaging $366.03 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Choice Spine, LLC$39K
- Medtronic$3K
- Globus Medical$3K
- Smoky Mountain Surgical LLC$2K
- Stryker$2K
- Arthrex$975
- plus $2K from 14 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$29,70057%
- Travel & lodging$11,05421%
- Food & beverage$6,26812%
- Education$5,32010%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Choice Spine, LLC | 21 | $39,487 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 29 | $3,307 |
| Globus Medical | 28 | $3,179 |
| Smoky Mountain Surgical LLC | 13 | $2,005 |
| Stryker | 9 | $1,878 |
| Arthrex | 19 | $975 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 6 | $518 |
| Carlsmed, Inc. | 4 | $284 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 2 | $187 |
| Seaspine Orthopedics Corporation | 1 | $131 |
| 7d Surgical ULC | 1 | $112 |
| Sanara Medtech Inc. | 1 | $52 |
| Zimvie Inc. | 1 | $51 |
| Boston Scientific | 2 | $38 |
| DJO, LLC | 1 | $33 |
| Providence Medical Technology, Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Alpha Orthopedic Systems | 1 | $23 |
| Spineology Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Abbott | 1 | $15 |
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.
- Thunderbolt Minimally Invasive Pedicle Screw Systems$22,754
- Stratofuse$21,287
- Blackhawk Cervical Spacer System$21,179
- VEO Lateral Interbody Fusion System$20,504
- Triton$15,554
- Harrier SA Lumbar Interbody System$10,575
- Boomerang$5,734
- TIGERSHARK C$5,625
- Lancer Pedicle Screw System$4,500
- OBLIQUE ALIF$2,925
- CD HORIZON$1,727
- CASCADIA INTERBODY SYSTEM$1,683
- Pulse$1,412
- EVEREST SPINAL SYSTEM$1,058
- XLIF$884
- YUKON OCT SPINAL SYSTEM$760
- OZARK CERVICAL PLATE SYSTEM$760
- Pedicle Anchoring Device$405
- PIVOX Oblique Lateral Spinal System$274
- SURGIFLO Hemostatic Matrix$156
How this compares
$52,342 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 381 orthopaedic surgery providers in Tennessee.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Naloxone Hcl | 34 | $2,074 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 47 | $698 |
| Methocarbamol | 94 | $526 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 70 | $464 |
| Prednisone | 70 | $228 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 16 | $195 |
| Gabapentin | 41 | $138 |
| Sulfamethoxazole-TrimethoprimSulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim | 11 | $87 |
| Meloxicam | 20 | $40 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 11 | $30 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Knoxville
- Paul BradyKnoxville$20M
- Edwin SpencerKnoxville$2.5M
- Paul NaylorKnoxville$184K
- George HollowayKnoxville$124K
- Harold CatesKnoxville$106K
- Adam ShortKnoxville$87K
- Brian EdkinKnoxville$60K
- Austin DavidsonKnoxville$56K
- Jesse DotyChattanooga$2.3M
- Thomas ThrockmortonGermantown$1.7M
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.