Kais Atmeh
Surgery · Iowa City, IANPI 1275080426
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
7 manufacturers reported payments, led by Vericel Corporation at 47.6% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $1,239 and has fallen 83.3% since, to $206 in 2025.
Across 17 payments — averaging $111.24 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Vericel Corporation$901
- Kerecis Limited$413
- Smith+Nephew$219
- Polynovo North America LLC$206
- Merck$79
- Aroa Biosurgery Incorporated$51
- plus $22 from 1 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$82544%
- Food & beverage$1,06656%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Vericel Corporation | 2 | $901 |
| Kerecis Limited | 3 | $413 |
| Smith+Nephew | 5 | $219 |
| Polynovo North America LLC | 1 | $206 |
| Merck | 4 | $79 |
| Aroa Biosurgery Incorporated | 1 | $51 |
| Avita Medical Americas, LLC | 1 | $22 |
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.
- Kerecis Omega3 SurgiClose$882
- Epicel$825
- Kerecis Omega3 Marigen$719
- Kerecis Omega3 GraftGuide$255
- Novosorb BTM$206
- ACTICOAT 4" X 4"$117
- Oasis$117
- COLLAGENASE SANTYL$117
- Versajet$117
How this compares
$1,891 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 331 surgery providers in Iowa.
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.
Other surgery in Iowa City
- Rory CarrollIowa City$22K
- Vikas DudejaIowa City$20K
- Samuel JonesIowa City$20K
- Jessica SmithIowa City$18K
- Paul PiersonIowa City$17K
- Joseph CullenIowa City$13K
- Isaac SamuelIowa City$13K
- Ryan LehmannIowa City$12K
- Peter NauIowa City$10K
- Sara HerreraIowa City$9K
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.