John Nelson, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Raleigh, NCNPI 1578857652
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (54.7%), food and beverage and education — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Sonex Health, Inc. accounts for 76.3% of it on its own, with 18 other manufacturers making up the rest.
Across 117 payments — averaging $229.52 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Sonex Health, Inc.$21K
- Arthrex$4K
- Stryker$1K
- Medtronic$184
- Boston Scientific$172
- Spineart USA Inc$160
- plus $577 from 13 others
Across 3 payments — averaging $69,043 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- Sonex Health, Inc.$207K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$14,70055%
- Travel & lodging$2,96411%
- Food & beverage$5,51721%
- Education$3,57813%
- Gifts$940%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sonex Health, Inc. | 69 | $20,501 |
| Arthrex | 15 | $3,978 |
| Stryker(2 entities) | 8 | $1,282 |
| Medtronic | 5 | $184 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $172 |
| Spineart USA Inc | 1 | $160 |
| Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 4 | $158 |
| Nevro Corp. | 1 | $101 |
| Abbott | 1 | $81 |
| Smith+Nephew | 2 | $50 |
| DJO, LLC | 2 | $28 |
| Moximed, Inc | 1 | $28 |
| Globus Medical | 1 | $28 |
| Amgen | 1 | $22 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $16 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $16 |
| Davol Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Elutia, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
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.
- Sx-One Microknife$19,361
- Ascend Flex$644
- AEQUALIS PERFORM$300
- GENERAL PAIN MANAGEMENT$172
- Perla TL$160
- AEQUALIS FLEX REVIVE$128
- INTELLIS$125
- DISTAL EXTREMITIES IMPLANTS HAND & WRIST ANCHORS$114
- ULTRAGUIDECTR$114
- ULTRAGUIDETFR$114
- XIAFLEX$104
- Senza$101
How this compares
$26,853 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 845 orthopaedic surgery providers in North 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 | 27 | $466 |
| Meloxicam | 56 | $185 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 44 | $139 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Raleigh
- Gurvinder DeolRaleigh$2.7M
- Rhett HallowsRaleigh$388K
- Karl SchweitzerRaleigh$197K
- Adedayo AshanaRaleigh$181K
- Thomas FehringCharlotte$18.3M
- Walter BeaverCharlotte$7.4M
- Robert AndersonCharlotte$6.6M
- William JiranekDurham$6.4M
- John MasonCharlotte$5.7M
- Thomas VailDurham$5.7M
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.