Kaela Blake, MD
Surgery · Knoxville, TNNPI 1205222072
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — speaking fees (27.1%), travel and lodging and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 32 manufacturers reported payments, led by Davol Inc. at 44.6% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $23,435, more than ten times the $90 reported in 2019. Among surgery clinicians in TN 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 167 payments — averaging $190.60 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Davol Inc.$14K
- W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.$9K
- Intuitive Surgical$3K
- BD$1K
- Integra Lifesciences Corporation$1K
- Medtronic$984
- plus $2K from 26 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$6,98022%
- Speaking & faculty fees$8,62527%
- Travel & lodging$7,74124%
- Food & beverage$5,99419%
- Education$1,5005%
- Other$9893%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Davol Inc. | 46 | $14,199 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 19 | $9,284 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 11 | $2,691 |
| BD | 5 | $1,294 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 7 | $1,021 |
| Medtronic | 20 | $984 |
| Sanara Medtech Inc. | 8 | $848 |
| TELA Bio, Inc. | 4 | $208 |
| AbbVie | 7 | $189 |
| Acera Surgical, Inc. | 7 | $136 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 2 | $125 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $117 |
| Aesculap, Inc. | 1 | $90 |
| Teleflex LLC | 2 | $76 |
| Innovation Technologies Inc | 1 | $69 |
| Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 3 | $64 |
| Olympus America Inc. | 3 | $48 |
| Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. | 1 | $47 |
| Shield Therapeutics Inc | 3 | $45 |
| Vertex | 2 | $39 |
| Daiichi Sankyo Inc. | 2 | $37 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 2 | $30 |
| Conmed Corporation | 1 | $25 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $21 |
| Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Phathom Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Solventum Corporation | 1 | $18 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 1 | $18 |
| Currax Pharmaceuticals LLC | 1 | $13 |
| Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, 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.
- GORE ENFORM Intraperitoneal Biomaterial$7,420
- Product in Development$6,480
- GORE SYNECOR Biomaterial$6,480
- Phasix Mesh$2,906
- DAVINCI XI$1,500
- Da Vinci Surgical System$1,093
- GORE BIO-A Tissue Reinforcement$953
- CellerateRx$795
- CYTAL$509
- MICROMATRIX$392
- ProGrip$300
- ARISTA$270
- GORE SYNECOR Preperitoneal Biomaterial$236
- GORE ENFORM Preperitoneal Biomaterial$173
- Sonicision$170
- OviTex Reinforced Bioscaffold With Permanent Polymer (OviTex)$160
- Channel Drain$150
- Zynrelef$117
- TISSEEL$104
How this compares
$31,829 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 516 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nystatin | 11 | $77 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 13 | $40 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in Knoxville
- Melissa PhillipsKnoxville$182K
- Michael AntipordaKnoxville$77K
- Nitin RangnekarKnoxville$35K
- Stephen BoyceKnoxville$30K
- Matthew ManciniKnoxville$29K
- Gregory ManciniKnoxville$29K
- Mariah BeasleyKnoxville$17K
- Heath BroussardJackson$688K
- Eric WallaceCookeville$529K
- John RobertsonJohnson City$432K
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.