Blake Burkert, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Livingston, MTNPI 1205248713
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (50.5%), travel and lodging and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 11 manufacturers reported payments, led by Stryker at 41.0% of the total. 2024 is the largest year on record at $882, 5.5 times the $162 reported in 2019.
Across 60 payments — averaging $46.29 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Stryker$1K
- Bioventus LLC$625
- Nalu Medical, Inc.$441
- Johnson & Johnson$155
- Boston Scientific$118
- Misonix Inc$106
- plus $195 from 5 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$62523%
- Travel & lodging$75027%
- Food & beverage$1,40351%
Most of this is food and beverage — typically meals provided during product presentations at a clinic or hospital. Nationally that is the single largest category of reported payments by count.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stryker | 8 | $1,138 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $625 |
| Nalu Medical, Inc. | 39 | $441 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 4 | $155 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $118 |
| Misonix Inc | 1 | $106 |
| Vertos Medical, Inc. | 1 | $73 |
| DJO, LLC | 2 | $63 |
| Seaspine Orthopedics Corporation | 1 | $27 |
| Sanara Medtech Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Axogen | 1 | $12 |
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.
- NEXUS-10 MKII$625
- ES2 SPINAL SYSTEM$539
- YUKON$203
- MAKO$150
- GENERAL PAIN MANAGEMENT$118
- LATERAL ACCESS SPINAL SYSTEM$110
- NeXus$106
- MESA$104
How this compares
$2,778 in reported general payments places this provider in the 60th percentile of 76 orthopaedic surgery providers in Montana.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oxycodone Hcl | 59 | $513 |
| Baclofen | 12 | $114 |
| Prednisone | 16 | $60 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 11 | $24 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Livingston
- Todd AndersonLivingston$1K
- Brian DrakeBillings$84K
- Daniel WhitingMissoula$39K
- Daniel DixonMissoula$38K
- Matthew KopplinBillings$35K
- Chase DukesHelena$34K
- Jace BullardGreat Falls$29K
- John WernerMissoula$24K
- Matthew AndersonPolson$23K
- Zackery WitteMissoula$18K
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.