Cheerag Upadhyaya, MD
Neurological Surgery · Chapel Hill, NCNPI 1720101827
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $18,167 of the $27,715 with a category attached, or 65.6%. 8 manufacturers reported payments, led by BK Medical Holding Company Inc. at 53.3% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $16,433 and has fallen 74.9% since, to $4,118 in 2025.
Across 35 payments — averaging $791.84 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- BK Medical Holding Company Inc.$15K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$5K
- GE HealthCare$4K
- Medtronic$1K
- Stryker$1K
- Globus Medical$908
- plus $572 from 2 others
Across 4 payments — averaging $6038.75 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.
- Cerapedics Inc.$18K
- Medtronic$6K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$18,16766%
- Speaking & faculty fees$6,58524%
- Travel & lodging$4202%
- Food & beverage$2,5439%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| BK Medical Holding Company Inc. | 4 | $14,774 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 3 | $4,820 |
| GE HealthCare | 3 | $4,000 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 14 | $1,400 |
| Stryker | 1 | $1,240 |
| Globus Medical(2 entities) | 7 | $908 |
| Spineology Inc. | 1 | $430 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $141 |
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.
- bk3000, bk3500 & bk5000 Ultrasound System$16,774
- Oracle$4,738
- OPTIMESH EXPANDABLE INTERBODY FUSION SYSTEM$430
- CD HORIZON SPINAL SYSTEM$317
- RELINE$171
- CREO Addition$162
- RIALTO$154
- BRAINLAB$125
- ANTERALIGN SPINAL SYSTEM WITH TITAN NANOLOCK SURFACE TECHNOLOGY$118
- O-ARM$117
- Pulse$117
- XLIF$117
- ACTIVA$116
- INTELLIS ADAPTIVESTIM$107
How this compares
$27,715 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 196 neurological surgery providers in North Carolina.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Methocarbamol | 29 | $253 |
| Gabapentin | 12 | $177 |
| Pregabalin | 11 | $96 |
| Methylprednisolone | 16 | $91 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other neurological surgery in Chapel Hill
- Michael GalganoChapel Hill$146K
- Vibhor KrishnaChapel Hill$91K
- Deb BhowmickChapel Hill$91K
- Joshua LoewensteinChapel Hill$40K
- Robert IsaacsDurham$6.6M
- Christopher ShaffreyDurham$4.5M
- Domagoj CoricCharlotte$2.3M
- John ThomasWilmington$1.8M
- Alexander PowersKernersville$1.7M
- Charles BranchAdvance$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.