Charles Hightower, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Anchorage, AKNPI 1255562104
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 12 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. Stryker accounts for 64.2% of it on its own, with 3 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $351, 3.5 times the $100 reported in 2022. That places this record below the midpoint for orthopaedic surgery clinicians in AK, where the typical reported total is $3,204.
Across 12 payments — averaging $67.11 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Stryker$517
- Zimmer Biomet$155
- Orthalign Inc$100
- GE HealthCare$32
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$805100%
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 | $517 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 2 | $155 |
| Orthalign Inc | 1 | $100 |
| GE HealthCare | 1 | $32 |
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.
- MAKO$337
- ORTHALIGN PLUS$100
How this compares
$805 in reported general payments places this provider in the 30th percentile of 63 orthopaedic surgery providers in Alaska.
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 | 42 | $153 |
| Hydroxyzine Pamoate | 21 | $72 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Anchorage
- Bryan HaughomAnchorage$179K
- Benjamin PackardAnchorage$40K
- Kenneth ThomasAnchorage$35K
- Jason GrayAnchorage$17K
- Ian BrimhallAnchorage$17K
- Thomas PaynterAnchorage$14K
- Kevin PaisleyAnchorage$10K
- Daniel CepelaAnchorage$9K
- Lars MatkinAnchorage$9K
- Adam EllisonAnchorage$8K
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.