Jeffrey Stepan
Hand Surgery · Chicago, ILNPI 1811316201
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by grants: $60,000 of the $70,878 with a category attached, or 84.7%. Acumed LLC accounts for 72.9% of it on its own, with 11 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $64,100 and has fallen 99.1% since, to $578 in 2025. Among hand surgery clinicians in IL 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.
Across 45 payments — averaging $1575.06 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Acumed LLC$52K
- Arthrex$10K
- Checkpoint Surgical, Inc$3K
- Elite Orthopedics, LLC$2K
- Axogen$1K
- Medwest Associates$1K
- plus $896 from 6 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$2,6004%
- Grants$60,00085%
- Travel & lodging$1,6452%
- Food & beverage$3,3825%
- Education$3,2515%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Acumed LLC | 9 | $51,671 |
| Arthrex | 4 | $10,411 |
| Checkpoint Surgical, Inc | 9 | $3,365 |
| Elite Orthopedics, LLC | 1 | $2,051 |
| Axogen | 8 | $1,283 |
| Medwest Associates | 1 | $1,200 |
| Stryker | 7 | $362 |
| Kerecis Limited | 1 | $182 |
| Medartis Inc. | 2 | $128 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 1 | $119 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $90 |
| Lightbody Medical Technologies Inc | 1 | $14 |
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.
- Checkpoint Stimulators$3,202
- Acu-Loc Wrist Plating System$1,361
- Acutrak Headless Compression Screw System$1,214
- Hand Fracture System$1,214
- AxoGuard Nerve Protector$768
- AxoGuard Nerve Connector$768
- Kerecis SurgiClose$730
- Osteotomy System$587
- AVANCE NERVE GRAFT$553
- ACUMED$230
- Kerecis GraftGuide$182
- ACCOLADE$149
- Elbow Plating System$147
- Anatomic Radial Head System$147
- AXOGUARD HA+ NERVE PROTECTOR$131
- AxoGuard Nerve Cap$131
- CONEXTIONS TR TENDON REPAIR SYSTEM-IMPLANT MECHANISM$129
- INTEGRA MESHED BILAYER WOUND MATRIX$119
- INTEGRA WOUND MATRIX (IWM)$119
- PRIMATRIX$119
How this compares
$70,878 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 121 hand surgery providers in Illinois.
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.
Other hand surgery in Chicago
- Mark CohenChicago$78K
- Eric PerezChicago$42K
- John FernandezChicago$29K
- Peter OstergaardChicago$15K
- Daniel HongChicago$12K
- Grigory GershkovichChicago$8K
- Kevin ChenChicago$6K
- James DieterichChicago$5K
- Cristina GraphiaChicago$4K
- William VitelloChicago$3K
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.