Luke Johnson, MD
Pain Medicine · Wheat Ridge, CONPI 1215282009
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — travel and lodging (47.4%), food and beverage and education — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 10 manufacturers reported payments, led by Vertiflex, Inc. at 28.5% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $3,885 and has fallen 91.1% since, to $347 in 2025.
Across 90 payments — averaging $61.90 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Vertiflex, Inc.$2K
- Vertos Medical, Inc.$834
- Boston Scientific$745
- Gemini Mountain Medical, LLC$690
- Nevro Corp.$678
- Medtronic$656
- plus $380 from 4 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$2,64247%
- Food & beverage$2,23940%
- Education$69012%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Vertiflex, Inc. | 9 | $1,587 |
| Vertos Medical, Inc. | 7 | $834 |
| Boston Scientific | 51 | $745 |
| Gemini Mountain Medical, LLC | 1 | $690 |
| Nevro Corp. | 10 | $678 |
| Medtronic | 4 | $656 |
| Stryker | 1 | $172 |
| SPR Therapeutics, Inc | 3 | $145 |
| Abbott | 3 | $48 |
| Curonix LLC | 1 | $15 |
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.
- Superion ISS$1,265
- mild Device Kit$722
- ADAPTIVESTIM$634
- Senza Spinal Cord Stimulation System$368
- GAMMA$172
- Omnia$134
How this compares
$5,571 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 96 pain medicine providers in Colorado.
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 | 14 | $294 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other pain medicine in Wheat Ridge
- Steven WrightWheat Ridge$18K
- Gareth ShemeshWheat Ridge$4K
- Robert MoghimGolden$273K
- Jack RentzGreenwood Village$264K
- Donald BernardiniEnglewood$102K
- Haley BurkeAurora$55K
- Amar PatelThornton$47K
- David ColumbusLoveland$30K
- Matthew PouliotFort Collins$26K
- Justin MerkowEnglewood$24K
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.