Melissa Erickson, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Durham, NCNPI 1730356056
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — speaking fees (52.0%), consulting fees and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 20 manufacturers reported payments, led by Medtronic at 49.9% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $105,063 and has fallen 66.8% since, to $34,929 in 2025. Among orthopaedic surgery clinicians in NC with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 295 payments — averaging $750.18 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medtronic$110K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$48K
- Globus Medical$44K
- Restor3d, Inc.$8K
- Alphatec Spine, Inc$4K
- Johnson & Johnson$2K
- plus $4K from 14 others
Across 1 payment — averaging $30,367 each. An ownership or investment interest held by the physician or an immediate family member.
- Restor3d, Inc.$30K
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$5890%
- Consulting fees$67,35230%
- Speaking & faculty fees$115,05052%
- Travel & lodging$26,88212%
- Food & beverage$11,4305%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 131 | $110,406 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 49 | $48,189 |
| Globus Medical(2 entities) | 39 | $43,523 |
| Restor3d, Inc. | 5 | $8,459 |
| Alphatec Spine, Inc | 8 | $4,499 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 21 | $2,115 |
| Integrity Implants Inc. | 11 | $1,259 |
| Tricoast Surgical Solutions LLC | 3 | $662 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 6 | $454 |
| Centinel Spine, LLC | 3 | $393 |
| Medicrea USA, Corp. | 1 | $264 |
| Arthrex | 4 | $257 |
| Brainlab, Inc. | 3 | $202 |
| Cerapedics Inc. | 3 | $157 |
| Bioventus LLC | 2 | $108 |
| Lifenet Health | 1 | $95 |
| Stryker | 2 | $91 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $89 |
| Innovation Technologies Inc | 1 | $72 |
| Trackx Technology, Inc. | 1 | $6 |
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.
- CD HORIZON SPINAL SYSTEM$49,372
- VIPER$43,946
- RISE-L$13,557
- Excelsius - GPS$11,237
- RISE-L . RISE-L A/L$9,537
- PIVOX Oblique Lateral Spinal System$6,500
- Other - Miscellaneous$4,381
- CREO$2,550
- Sable$2,183
- XLIF$1,836
- CONDUIT$1,421
- Expedium VERSE$1,297
- FlareHawk$1,159
- Excelsius Robotics System$1,086
- Teligen$406
- ELSA$367
- PRODISC L$317
- PASS-LP$264
- UNiD$264
- STEALTHSTATION S8 PLATFORM$168
How this compares
$221,302 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 845 orthopaedic surgery providers in North Carolina.
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 | 32 | $370 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 16 | $97 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Durham
- William JiranekDurham$6.4M
- Thomas VailDurham$5.7M
- Mark EasleyDurham$4M
- Michael BolognesiDurham$2.3M
- Christopher BrownDurham$2.3M
- Samuel AdamsDurham$1.8M
- James NunleyDurham$1.6M
- James DeorioDurham$1.3M
- Richard MatherDurham$711K
- Marc RichardDurham$643K
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.