Has Michael Kern, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $10,209 in general payments to Michael Kern, MD across 57 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Michael Kern, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Michael Kern, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Michael Kern, MD

Sports Medicine · Knoxville, TNNPI 1093071268

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

The money is spread across several categories — travel and lodging (39.7%), education and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 8 manufacturers reported payments, led by Alpha Orthopedic Systems at 54.8% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $3,021 and has fallen 99.5% since, to $14 in 2025.

$10,209in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 57 payments — averaging $179.10 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Alpha Orthopedic Systems$6K
Techmah Medical, LLC$2K
Arthrex$2K
Zimmer Biomet$125
Stryker$101
Smoky Mountain Surgical LLC$55
plus $38 from 2 others

What the payments were for

Consulting fees$2,25022%
Travel & lodging$4,05340%
Food & beverage$1,29913%
Education$2,60626%

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
Alpha Orthopedic Systems	15	$5,596
Techmah Medical, LLC	2	$2,302
Arthrex	33	$1,991
Zimmer Biomet	1	$125
Stryker	2	$101
Smoky Mountain Surgical LLC	2	$55
Johnson & Johnson	1	$24
Acera Surgical, 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.

SmartSpace Shoulder$2,250
Biowick$125

How this compares

$10,209 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 147 sports medicine providers in Tennessee.

See all sports medicine providers in Tennessee →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$127,960

Medicare patients

231

Services billed

1,746

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	20	$1,229
Meloxicam	138	$394

Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.

Other sports medicine in Knoxville

Andrew HoltKnoxville$46K
Wade GobbellKnoxville$29K
Bradley JaquithKnoxville$19K
Jon MacnaughtonKnoxville$8K
Lucianne OlewinskiKnoxville$7K
Matthew RappeKnoxville$5K
Jeffrey DlabachCollierville$504K
Ian ByramFranklin$252K
Jw ByrdNashville$248K
Lucas RichieLebanon$159K

See the full list for Tennessee →

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.

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