Christopher Wester
Orthopaedic Surgery · Springfield, MONPI 1962907147
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — travel and lodging (32.4%), food and beverage and grants — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 10 manufacturers reported payments, led by Stryker at 35.3% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $9,324 and has fallen 98.0% since, to $182 in 2025.
Across 100 payments — averaging $156.76 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Stryker$6K
- Smith+Nephew$5K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$2K
- Encore Medical, LP$2K
- Arthrex$1K
- Titan Surgical Group, LLC$430
- plus $205 from 4 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$1,50010%
- Grants$2,50016%
- Travel & lodging$5,08032%
- Food & beverage$4,09626%
- Education$2,50016%
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 | 61 | $5,540 |
| Smith+Nephew | 2 | $5,000 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 8 | $1,948 |
| Encore Medical, LP | 1 | $1,500 |
| Arthrex | 18 | $1,052 |
| Titan Surgical Group, LLC | 6 | $430 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $116 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 1 | $43 |
| Globus Medical | 1 | $27 |
| Vertex | 1 | $19 |
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
$15,676 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 455 orthopaedic surgery providers in Missouri.
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 | 52 | $246 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Springfield
- Heath MeluginSpringfield$52K
- Matthew SmithColumbia$2.9M
- Jay KeenerSaint Louis$2.2M
- John WatsonSaint Louis$1.7M
- Peter ChalmersSaint Louis$603K
- Katherine BurnsBridgeton$491K
- Jeremy StattonLees Summit$457K
- Lionel MetzSaint Louis$428K
- Michael HellmanLees Summit$365K
- Jon CarlsonSaint Louis$354K
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.