Karl Balch, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Bakersfield, CANPI 1902127525
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 29 payments — averaging $88.97 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Encore Medical, LP$2K
- Stryker$641
- Smith+Nephew$69
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$60
- Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC$41
- Vertex$38
- plus $229 from 10 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$1,38454%
- Food & beverage$1,19646%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Encore Medical, LP | 4 | $1,502 |
| Stryker | 6 | $641 |
| Smith+Nephew | 3 | $69 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 1 | $60 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 2 | $41 |
| Vertex | 2 | $38 |
| Nalu Medical, Inc. | 1 | $37 |
| Orthosensor Inc. | 1 | $32 |
| BD | 1 | $27 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $24 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $23 |
| Heraeus Medical, LLC. | 2 | $23 |
| Convatec Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 1 | $18 |
| Avanos Medical | 1 | $14 |
| Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $12 |
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.
- DJO Surgical 3DKnee System$1,384
- MAKO$584
How this compares
$2,580 in reported general payments places this provider in the 50th percentile of 1,808 orthopaedic surgery providers in California.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| EliquisApixaban | 16 | $8,490 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 178 | $1,786 |
| Ondansetron Hcl | 259 | $1,582 |
| Diclofenac Sodium | 60 | $1,033 |
| Meloxicam | 166 | $1,014 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 62 | $464 |
| Celecoxib | 21 | $357 |
| Tranexamic Acid | 16 | $339 |
| Gabapentin | 36 | $203 |
| Ibuprofen | 44 | $175 |
| Cephalexin | 26 | $156 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 35 | $75 |
| Amoxicillin | 25 | $16 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Bakersfield
- Bradford HackArcadia$18.3M
- Robert GorabOrange$14.5M
- Kelly VinceLos Angeles$9.6M
- Stephen HowellSacramento$9.4M
- Thomas CoonRed Bluff$9.2M
- Peter NewtonSan Diego$7M
- Nirav AminPlacentia$5.8M
- Tom NorrisSan Francisco$5.3M
- Jay LiebermanLos Angeles$4.8M
- Sigurd BervenSan Francisco$4.1M
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.