Christopher Carter, MD
Sports Medicine · Birmingham, ALNPI 1295047280
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by speaking fees: $38,933 of the $41,901 with a category attached, or 92.9%. Amgen accounts for 95.8% of it on its own, with 16 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2021 at $23,169 and has fallen 99.0% since, to $242 in 2025.
Across 145 payments — averaging $288.98 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Amgen$40K
- Pacira Therapeutics, Inc.$428
- Bioventus LLC$403
- Zyla Life Sciences, Inc.$214
- Metuchen Pharmaceuticals$130
- Johnson & Johnson$114
- plus $490 from 11 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$38,93393%
- Travel & lodging$7652%
- Food & beverage$2,2035%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Amgen | 63 | $40,122 |
| Pacira Therapeutics, Inc. | 7 | $428 |
| Bioventus LLC | 17 | $403 |
| Zyla Life Sciences, Inc. | 32 | $214 |
| Metuchen Pharmaceuticals | 1 | $130 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 4 | $114 |
| Novo Nordisk | 1 | $112 |
| Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 5 | $88 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 4 | $70 |
| DJO, LLC | 2 | $68 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 2 | $39 |
| Abbott | 2 | $34 |
| Vertex | 1 | $20 |
| GSK | 1 | $16 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $16 |
| Convatec Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 1 | $13 |
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.
How this compares
$41,901 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 108 sports medicine providers in Alabama.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Diclofenac Sodium | 207 | $2,265 |
| Methylprednisolone | 64 | $584 |
| Meloxicam | 77 | $368 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 58 | $194 |
| Gabapentin | 34 | $172 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 29 | $38 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other sports medicine in Birmingham
- Edward CainBirmingham$12.7M
- Mark RogersBirmingham$94K
- Amit MomayaBirmingham$77K
- Christoper GarrettBirmingham$58K
- Reaves CrabtreeBirmingham$47K
- David AdkisonBirmingham$46K
- Amir ShahienBirmingham$45K
- Christian MerrillBirmingham$40K
- Thomas EvelyBirmingham$34K
- Aaron JoinerBirmingham$32K
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.