Kevin Kessler, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Ft Lauderdale, FLNPI 1619943594
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 182 payments — averaging $42.93 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Stryker$2K
- Arthrosurface Incorporated$1K
- Southern Edge Orthopaedics, Inc.$871
- Johnson & Johnson$650
- Amgen$596
- Smith+Nephew$556
- plus $2K from 26 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$90012%
- Food & beverage$6,07578%
- Education$83811%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stryker(2 entities) | 24 | $2,143 |
| Arthrosurface Incorporated | 4 | $1,299 |
| Southern Edge Orthopaedics, Inc. | 2 | $871 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 23 | $650 |
| Amgen | 57 | $596 |
| Smith+Nephew | 8 | $556 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 9 | $351 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 7 | $180 |
| DJO, LLC | 5 | $139 |
| Nevro Corp. | 2 | $132 |
| Bioventus LLC | 7 | $129 |
| Embody, Inc. | 1 | $94 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 5 | $80 |
| Vertex | 3 | $72 |
| Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 3 | $70 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 2 | $59 |
| Aroa Biosurgery Incorporated | 1 | $49 |
| Zyla Life Sciences, Inc. | 2 | $43 |
| Pacira Therapeutics, Inc. | 2 | $42 |
| Electronic Waveform Lab, Inc. | 3 | $28 |
| Davol Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Curonix LLC | 1 | $24 |
| Acell, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Solventum Corporation | 1 | $23 |
| Vericel Corporation | 1 | $22 |
| Nalu Medical, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 1 | $21 |
| Abbott | 1 | $18 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 1 | $14 |
| Illuminoss Medical, Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 1 | $12 |
| Convatec 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.
- HemiCAP Shoulder$1,239
- MAKO$925
- DURACON$174
- INTEllIO LINK WEREWOLF$147
- AEQUALIS ASCEND FLEX$145
- TRIATHLON$139
- ROSA-Knee$130
- SPORTPORT$130
- Regeneten$130
- Senza$116
How this compares
$7,813 in reported general payments places this provider in the 55th percentile of 1,263 orthopaedic surgery providers in Florida.
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 | 116 | $2,674 |
| Methylprednisolone | 220 | $1,182 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 189 | $878 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 92 | $873 |
| Ibuprofen | 115 | $813 |
| Diclofenac Sodium | 100 | $744 |
| Meloxicam | 307 | $651 |
| Cephalexin | 59 | $449 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 96 | $333 |
| Acetaminophen-CodeineAcetaminophen With Codeine | 30 | $286 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 37 | $250 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 33 | $177 |
| Gabapentin | 37 | $152 |
| Zolpidem Tartrate | 22 | $62 |
| Doxycycline Hyclate | 21 | $61 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Ft Lauderdale
- Andrew CooperClearwater$102M
- Richard HynesMelbourne$35M
- Mark FrankleTemple Terrace$31.4M
- David WatsonTemple Terrace$21M
- Roy SandersTemple Terrace$19.6M
- George HaidukewychOrlando$10M
- Martin RocheFt. Lauderdale$7.3M
- Robert SantrockFernandina Beach$7.3M
- Steven LyonsTampa$6.8M
- Derek CuffVenice$6.6M
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.