Melissa Stamates, MD
Neurological Surgery · Fayetteville, NCNPI 1356637722
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $4,071 of the $6,521 with a category attached, or 62.4%. 15 manufacturers reported payments, led by Stryker at 28.9% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $2,017 and has fallen 73.1% since, to $543 in 2025.
Across 130 payments — averaging $50.16 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Stryker$2K
- Globus Medical$2K
- Boston Scientific$1K
- Medtronic$927
- Abbott$204
- Lemaitre Vascular, Inc.$120
- plus $471 from 9 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$2,33036%
- Food & beverage$4,07162%
- Education$1202%
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 | 27 | $1,883 |
| Globus Medical | 9 | $1,603 |
| Boston Scientific | 53 | $1,313 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 21 | $927 |
| Abbott | 6 | $204 |
| Lemaitre Vascular, Inc. | 1 | $120 |
| Arbor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $100 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $95 |
| Nevro Corp. | 1 | $66 |
| Vertos Medical, Inc. | 1 | $63 |
| AstraZeneca | 3 | $53 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 3 | $45 |
| CSL Behring | 1 | $20 |
| Novocure Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Livanova USA, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
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.
- CORBEL$1,243
- ES2$745
- TRITANIUM$563
- AERO$281
- SERRATO$281
- Senza$161
- ADHERUS AUTOSPRAY DURAL SEALANT$130
- ANASTOCLIP GC 8CM (MEDIUM)$120
- INTELLIS ADAPTIVESTIM$120
- INCEPTIV$105
- Gliadel$100
How this compares
$6,521 in reported general payments places this provider in the 55th percentile of 196 neurological 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 | 23 | $185 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 20 | $129 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 17 | $91 |
| Methocarbamol | 15 | $84 |
| Methylprednisolone | 16 | $67 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other neurological surgery in Fayetteville
- Robert IsaacsDurham$6.6M
- Christopher ShaffreyDurham$4.5M
- Domagoj CoricCharlotte$2.3M
- John ThomasWilmington$1.8M
- Alexander PowersKernersville$1.7M
- Charles BranchAdvance$1.6M
- Paul KimCharlotte$1.5M
- William HunterGastonia$1.3M
- Kevin CahillSupply$1.1M
- Matthew McGirtCharlotte$693K
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.