Has Christpher Klifto, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $575,411 in general payments to Christpher Klifto, MD across 658 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 Christpher Klifto, 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 Christpher Klifto, 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.

Christpher Klifto, MD

Hand Surgery · Durham, NCNPI 1164713947

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

This record is dominated by consulting fees: $416,399 of the $575,411 with a category attached, or 72.4%. Smith+Nephew accounts for 86.7% of it on its own, with 24 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $202,439, 7.2 times the $28,047 reported in 2019. Among hand surgery clinicians in NC with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.

$575,411in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 658 payments — averaging $874.49 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Smith+Nephew$499K
Integra Lifesciences Corporation$47K
Acumed LLC$14K
Stryker$8K
Southtech Orthopedics$3K
Medartis Inc.$1K
plus $4K from 19 others

$72,787in research payments, 2019–2025

Across 14 payments — averaging $5199.07 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.

Smith+Nephew$73K

$6,765in ownership & investment interests, 2019–2025

Across 1 payment — averaging $6764.66 each. An ownership or investment interest held by the physician or an immediate family member.

Restor3d, Inc.$7K

What the payments were for

Consulting fees$416,39972%
Speaking & faculty fees$79,91614%
Travel & lodging$56,28210%
Food & beverage$19,9053%
Education$2,9101%

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
Smith+Nephew	503	$498,612
Integra Lifesciences Corporation	67	$47,332
Acumed LLC	13	$13,534
Stryker	27	$7,949
Southtech Orthopedics	4	$2,599
Medartis Inc.	6	$1,209
Exactech, Inc.	5	$676
Ascension Orthopedics, Inc.	1	$500
Bioventus LLC	5	$426
Johnson & Johnson	5	$415
Checkpoint Surgical, Inc	2	$290
Zimmer Biomet	2	$268
Encore Medical, LP	2	$249
Osteocentric Technologies, Inc.	2	$215
Trimed, Inc.	2	$190
Axogen	1	$143
Arthrosurface Incorporated	1	$129
Onkos Surgical, Inc.	1	$126
Exsomed Corporation	1	$118
Biocircuit Technologies Inc	1	$118
Next Science LLC	2	$111
Ossio Inc	1	$91
Restor3d, Inc.	2	$74
ERMI LLC	1	$24
Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.	1	$12

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.

REAL INTELLIGENCE$147,327
AETOS Shoulder System$111,420
TWINFIX$109,650
ACUMED$53,328
TITAN-SHOULDER$51,403
FREEDOM WRIST$45,805
External Fixation System$42,055
REVERSE SHOULDER$37,918
Bioinductive Implant with Arthroscopic Delivery System - Medium$36,462
Q-FIX$35,962
EVOS$34,151
FAST-FIX$28,820
Healicoil$28,139
Bone Anchors with Arthroscopic Delivery System$26,944
Mini-Open Latarjet$23,572
SPATIAL FRAME$19,831
EVOS MINI$13,728
Hat-Trick$13,728
Cadence$8,550
TSS$8,499

How this compares

$575,411 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 79 hand surgery providers in North Carolina.

See all hand surgery providers in North Carolina →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$391,937

Medicare patients

620

Services billed

4,494

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	11	$251
Meloxicam	57	$186
Methylprednisolone	23	$175
Gabapentin	12	$91
Oxycodone Hcl	20	$86
Ibuprofen	13	$62
Tramadol Hcl	23	$53

Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.

Other hand surgery in Durham

Kenneth LindleyDurham$2K
Julian AldridgeDurham$1K
Steven WintersDurham$487
Raymond GastonCharlotte$505K
Ryan GarciaCharlotte$381K
Richard MooreWilmington$177K
Erica TaylorRaleigh$97K
Tyler PidgeonMorrisville$50K
John YanikAsheville$32K
Zhongyu LiWinston Salem$29K

See the full list for North 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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