Dennis Merski, DO
Obstetrics · McMinnville, TNNPI 1871702464
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by travel and lodging: $917 of the $1,059 with a category attached, or 86.6%. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 86.6% of it on its own, with 7 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $917, more than ten times the $19 reported in 2019. That places this record below the midpoint for obstetrics clinicians in TN, where the typical reported total is $1,729.
Across 10 payments — averaging $105.86 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$917
- Organon$34
- Astellas Pharma US Inc$24
- AbbVie$19
- Avanos Medical$19
- Myovant Sciences Inc.$16
- plus $30 from 2 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$91787%
- Food & beverage$12612%
- Education$162%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Surgical | 3 | $917 |
| Organon | 1 | $34 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 1 | $24 |
| AbbVie | 1 | $19 |
| Avanos Medical | 1 | $19 |
| Myovant Sciences Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $16 |
| Medtronic | 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
$1,059 in reported general payments places this provider in the 45th percentile of 26 obstetrics providers in Tennessee.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| PremarinEstrogens, Conjugated | 23 | $5,420 |
| Estradiol | 28 | $694 |
| Alendronate Sodium | 35 | $151 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other obstetrics in McMinnville
- Erin SaundersKnoxville$6K
- Kreg JonsonChattanooga$6K
- Jerrie Haney-WeaverKnoxville$4K
- Jessica RuffinMemphis$3K
- George FoxSmyrna$3K
- Kenneth O KelleyKnoxville$3K
- Deidrea GrandberryMemphis$3K
- Kendra HayslettMartin$3K
- Stephanie DallasNashville$3K
- Corey McGlothanMemphis$2K
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.