John Fernandez, MD
Hand Surgery · Chicago, ILNPI 1245219963
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by speaking fees: $26,075 of the $29,423 with a category attached, or 88.6%. Arthrex accounts for 93.3% of it on its own, with 9 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2021 at $11,170 and has fallen 93.3% since, to $747 in 2025. Among hand surgery clinicians in IL with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 53 payments — averaging $555.14 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Arthrex$27K
- Synthes GmbH$627
- Acumed LLC$492
- Medwest Associates$262
- Medartis Inc.$200
- Stryker$147
- plus $239 from 4 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$5002%
- Speaking & faculty fees$26,07589%
- Travel & lodging$1,0594%
- Food & beverage$1,5545%
- Education$2351%
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 | 28 | $27,456 |
| Synthes GmbH | 2 | $627 |
| Acumed LLC | 7 | $492 |
| Medwest Associates | 3 | $262 |
| Medartis Inc. | 1 | $200 |
| Stryker | 3 | $147 |
| Nextremity Solutions Inc. | 1 | $124 |
| AbbVie | 5 | $76 |
| Bioventus LLC | 2 | $28 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 1 | $11 |
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
$29,423 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th 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.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Methylprednisolone | 11 | $71 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other hand surgery in Chicago
- Mark CohenChicago$78K
- Jeffrey StepanChicago$71K
- Eric PerezChicago$42K
- 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.