Deborah Kowalchuk, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Johns Creek, GANPI 1245466036
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 83 payments — averaging $204.29 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Arthrex$9K
- United Orthopedics LLC$4K
- Stryker$2K
- Novastep Inc.$439
- Trilliant Surgical LLC.$165
- Treace Medical Concepts, Inc.$162
- plus $679 from 6 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$6,00035%
- Travel & lodging$3,82023%
- Food & beverage$3,93623%
- Education$3,20019%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Arthrex | 46 | $9,479 |
| United Orthopedics LLC | 6 | $4,321 |
| Stryker(2 entities) | 20 | $1,712 |
| Novastep Inc. | 3 | $439 |
| Trilliant Surgical LLC. | 1 | $165 |
| Treace Medical Concepts, Inc. | 1 | $162 |
| Biotissue Holdings Inc. | 1 | $161 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $131 |
| Vericel Corporation | 1 | $127 |
| Paragon 28, Inc. | 1 | $113 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $109 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $37 |
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.
- INFINITY$598
- INBONE$458
- PECA Bunion Correction System$301
- Arsenal Ankle 10 Hole 1/3 Tubular Plate$165
- TMC NANOPLASTY SYSTEM$162
- CLARIX$161
- DISTAL EXTREMITIES INSTRUMENTS FOOT & ANKLE HINDFOOT & ANKLE$150
- INFINITY ADAPTIS$138
- PECAPLASTY$138
- CARTIVA$135
- TRIGEN InterTAN$131
- MACI$127
- DISTAL EXTREMITIES IMPLANTS TRAUMA ANKLE FRACTURE$112
- Exogen Ultrasound Bone Healing System$109
How this compares
$16,956 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 654 orthopaedic surgery providers in Georgia.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 46 | $357 |
| Diclofenac Sodium | 30 | $316 |
| Ondansetron OdtOndansetron | 45 | $171 |
| Gabapentin | 15 | $121 |
| Meloxicam | 19 | $69 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 18 | $30 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Johns Creek
- Jeffrey SmithJohns Creek$66K
- Charles DecookCumming$48.3M
- Ormonde MahoneyAthens$10.8M
- Daxes BanitWarner Robins$5.7M
- John DorchakColumbus$3.8M
- Daniel SilcoxAtlanta$3.4M
- Dennis DevitoAtlanta$1.5M
- George GuildCumming$1.4M
- Jon MinterAlpharetta$1.4M
- Tuan BuiLawrenceville$1.1M
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.