Has Christopher Merrell, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $7,330 in general payments to Christopher Merrell, MD across 107 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Christopher Merrell, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Christopher Merrell, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Christopher Merrell, MD

Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation · N Charleston, SCNPI 1720049182

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

This record is dominated by food and beverage: $4,710 of the $7,330 with a category attached, or 64.3%. 16 manufacturers reported payments, led by Medtronic at 49.9% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2020 at $2,994 and has fallen 85.6% since, to $430 in 2025. Among physical medicine & rehabilitation clinicians in SC with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.

$7,330in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 107 payments — averaging $68.51 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Medtronic$4K
Arthrex$2K
Peerless Surgical Inc.$572
Boston Scientific$294
Abbott$232
Amgen$127
plus $298 from 10 others

$11,266in research payments, 2019–2025

Across 4 payments — averaging $2816.50 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.

Medtronic$11K

What the payments were for

Travel & lodging$74310%
Food & beverage$4,71064%
Education$1,87826%

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
Medtronic(2 entities)	54	$3,655
Arthrex	4	$2,152
Peerless Surgical Inc.	5	$572
Boston Scientific	12	$294
Abbott	14	$232
Amgen(2 entities)	2	$127
Nevro Corp.	4	$70
Zyla Life Sciences, Inc.	3	$41
Forte Bio-pharma LLC	2	$33
Relievant Medsystems, Inc.	1	$31
SPR Therapeutics, Inc	1	$29
Vertex	1	$28
Daiichi Sankyo Inc.	1	$23
Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc.	1	$16
Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC	1	$14
Assertio Therapeutics, Inc.	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

$7,330 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 122 physical medicine & rehabilitation providers in South Carolina.

See all physical medicine & rehabilitation providers in South Carolina →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$426,256

Medicare patients

838

Services billed

42,589

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
Xtampza ErOxycodone Myristate	37	$20,384
Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen	400	$13,260
Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen	574	$12,853
OxycontinOxycodone Hcl	19	$9,867
MovantikNaloxegol Oxalate	12	$4,944
Morphine Sulfate ErMorphine Sulfate	118	$3,268
Lidocaine	21	$2,949
Gabapentin	75	$1,219
Celecoxib	52	$1,026
Oxycodone Hcl	69	$954
Pregabalin	73	$839
Tramadol Hcl	58	$433
Tizanidine Hcl	43	$432
Diclofenac Sodium	30	$402
Trazodone Hcl	15	$397

Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.

Other physical medicine & rehabilitation in N Charleston

William LorenzFlorence$66K
Charles NivensBluffton$25K
Jonathan ChapekisGreer$17K
Rebecca HoldrenGreenville$15K
Nancey TsaiHanahan$13K
Ashley MaybinConway$10K
Anthony AlexanderFlorence$10K
Eleasa HulonGreenville$10K
Susan CramerBluffton$7K
Jeffrey FarricielliMount Pleasant$6K

See the full list for South Carolina →

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.

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