James Merritt, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Myrtle Beach, SCNPI 1245296862
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 3 payments — averaging $25.94 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Stryker$43
- AstraZeneca$20
- Convatec Inc.$15
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$78100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stryker | 1 | $43 |
| AstraZeneca | 1 | $20 |
| Convatec Inc. | 1 | $15 |
How this compares
$78 in reported general payments places this provider in the 5th percentile of 325 orthopaedic surgery providers in South Carolina.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Celecoxib | 179 | $4,431 |
| Methylprednisolone | 254 | $1,555 |
| Ibuprofen | 138 | $1,053 |
| Mupirocin | 120 | $960 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 150 | $802 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 240 | $755 |
| Cephalexin | 178 | $627 |
| Diclofenac Sodium | 17 | $621 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 120 | $540 |
| Omeprazole | 73 | $340 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 40 | $283 |
| Gabapentin | 19 | $274 |
| Ondansetron Hcl | 84 | $267 |
| Prednisone | 15 | $250 |
| Meloxicam | 97 | $242 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Myrtle Beach
- William SmithColumbia$7.7M
- Richard FrischMt Pleasant$1M
- Brent PonceCharleston$892K
- Chi LimSpartanburg$512K
- Todd LansfordNorth Charleston$288K
- Nicholas GrimaldiColumbia$203K
- Richard MarksWest Columbia$176K
- Brayton ShirleyGreer$134K
- James LogingClinton$118K
- Justin SmithRock Hill$102K
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.