John Welker, MD
Interventional Pain Medicine · Antioch, TNNPI 1346477221
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $5,757 of the $9,350 with a category attached, or 61.6%. Boston Scientific accounts for 92.8% of it on its own, with 9 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $4,321 and has fallen 69.5% since, to $1,319 in 2025.
Across 279 payments — averaging $33.51 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Boston Scientific$9K
- Abbott$415
- Painteq LLC$67
- AbbVie$44
- Stratus Medical, LLC$41
- Globus Medical$36
- plus $75 from 4 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$2,55027%
- Travel & lodging$1,04311%
- Food & beverage$5,75762%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Scientific | 251 | $8,673 |
| Abbott | 17 | $415 |
| Painteq LLC | 3 | $67 |
| AbbVie | 1 | $44 |
| Stratus Medical, LLC | 1 | $41 |
| Globus Medical | 2 | $36 |
| Pfizer | 1 | $24 |
| Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Nevro Corp. | 1 | $20 |
| SPR Therapeutics, Inc | 1 | $10 |
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
$9,350 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 41 interventional pain medicine providers in Tennessee.
See all interventional pain medicine 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Gabapentin | 323 | $6,209 |
| Pregabalin | 263 | $5,220 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 152 | $4,770 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 196 | $3,960 |
| Celecoxib | 109 | $3,191 |
| Methocarbamol | 181 | $2,797 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 165 | $2,502 |
| Baclofen | 193 | $2,332 |
| Metaxalone | 14 | $1,525 |
| Chlorzoxazone | 36 | $1,464 |
| Diclofenac Sodium | 108 | $1,095 |
| Duloxetine Hcl | 39 | $754 |
| Etodolac | 16 | $662 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 32 | $626 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 62 | $589 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other interventional pain medicine in Antioch
- Daniel McHughAntioch$6K
- David FritzAntioch$6K
- Bradley HillAntioch$6K
- Timothy MillerAntioch$4K
- William NewtonWinchester$225K
- Ryan BearerWinchester$35K
- Michael WilkinsonJohnson City$35K
- Jacob MillsMountain Home$24K
- Matthew KangasMemphis$22K
- Matthew RupertFranklin$17K
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.