Mark Blankenship, MD
Colon & Rectal Surgery · Rincon, GANPI 1861492191
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — travel and lodging (39.8%), food and beverage and speaking fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 81.1% of it on its own, with 11 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $2,579 and has fallen 95.0% since, to $128 in 2025. That places this record below the midpoint for colon & rectal surgery clinicians in GA, where the typical reported total is $4,045.
Across 40 payments — averaging $77.86 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$3K
- Medtronic$312
- THD America, Inc.$65
- Smith+Nephew$47
- Axonics, Inc.$35
- Portola Pharmaceuticals, LLC$24
- plus $108 from 6 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$69522%
- Travel & lodging$1,23840%
- Food & beverage$1,18138%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Surgical | 11 | $2,524 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 14 | $312 |
| THD America, Inc. | 4 | $65 |
| Smith+Nephew | 2 | $47 |
| Axonics, Inc. | 2 | $35 |
| Portola Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 1 | $24 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $23 |
| LSI Solutions Inc | 1 | $22 |
| Solventum Corporation | 1 | $21 |
| BD | 1 | $15 |
| Novo Nordisk | 1 | $15 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$2,358
How this compares
$3,114 in reported general payments places this provider in the 45th percentile of 66 colon & rectal surgery providers in Georgia.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sod Sulf-Potass Sulf-Mag SulfSodium, Potassium,mag Sulfates | 32 | $2,251 |
| SuprepSodium, Potassium,mag Sulfates | 11 | $1,308 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 70 | $421 |
| Neomycin Sulfate | 56 | $291 |
| Metronidazole | 63 | $215 |
| Ciprofloxacin Hcl | 14 | $52 |
| Ondansetron Hcl | 18 | $37 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other colon & rectal surgery in Rincon
- David ArmstrongLawrenceville$1.2M
- Jeffrey CohenMarietta$663K
- Erin King-MullinsMacon$119K
- Jay SinghRoswell$102K
- Jason PetrofskiCumming$74K
- Dennis ChoatFayetteville$65K
- Seth RosenJohns Creek$42K
- Patrick SullivanAtlanta$41K
- Jose AycinenaGainesville$33K
- Fia YiAthens$32K
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.