Joel Ragland, MD
Neurological Surgery · Knoxville, TNNPI 1386633402
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 34 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. It is spread thinly across 17 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 21.6% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. Reporting peaked in 2021 at $412 and has fallen 83.2% since, to $69 in 2024. That places this record below the midpoint for neurological surgery clinicians in TN, where the typical reported total is $3,083.
Across 34 payments — averaging $32.64 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Stryker$240
- Zimvie Inc.$176
- Johnson & Johnson$131
- Si-bone, Inc.$100
- Globus Medical$89
- Smoky Mountain Surgical LLC$59
- plus $315 from 11 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$1,110100%
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 | 2 | $240 |
| Zimvie Inc. | 3 | $176 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 6 | $131 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 5 | $100 |
| Globus Medical(2 entities) | 2 | $89 |
| Smoky Mountain Surgical LLC | 2 | $59 |
| Providence Medical Technology, Inc. | 1 | $47 |
| Nevro Corp. | 2 | $45 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $41 |
| Abbott | 2 | $36 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 2 | $28 |
| Portola Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 1 | $27 |
| DJO, LLC | 1 | $23 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $21 |
| Surgalign Spine Technologies, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Zyla Life Sciences, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Sanara Medtech Inc. | 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
$1,110 in reported general payments places this provider in the 35th percentile of 156 neurological surgery 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 30 | $147 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 17 | $125 |
| Gabapentin | 11 | $47 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other neurological surgery in Knoxville
- James KillefferKnoxville$165K
- Joshua MillerKnoxville$49K
- David HaugeKnoxville$38K
- Todd AbelKnoxville$21K
- Richard BoyerKnoxville$14K
- William SnyderKnoxville$14K
- Christopher GallatiKnoxville$8K
- Kevin FoleyMemphis$162.4M
- Maurice SmithMemphis$4.4M
- Brian OshaughnessyNashville$2.1M
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.