Michael Nicoson, MD
Surgery of the Hand · Louisville, KYNPI 1275738171
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by speaking fees: $11,125 of the $17,616 with a category attached, or 63.2%. Axogen accounts for 90.6% of it on its own, with 2 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $16,085 and has fallen 96.4% since, to $575 in 2025. Among surgery of the hand clinicians in KY with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 25 payments — averaging $704.64 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Axogen$16K
- Medartis Inc.$2K
- Extremity Medical$47
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$3,40019%
- Speaking & faculty fees$11,12563%
- Travel & lodging$1,1226%
- Food & beverage$1,96911%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Axogen | 12 | $15,961 |
| Medartis Inc. | 12 | $1,608 |
| Extremity Medical | 1 | $47 |
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.
- AxoGuard Nerve Connector$13,570
- AxoGuard Nerve Protector$13,570
- APTUS$1,306
How this compares
$17,616 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 36 surgery of the hand providers in Kentucky.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Meloxicam | 54 | $365 |
| Ondansetron Hcl | 35 | $179 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 25 | $151 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 18 | $133 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 24 | $95 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 46 | $45 |
| Prednisone | 16 | $26 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery of the hand in Louisville
- Luis SchekerLouisville$5.8M
- Claudiu MuresanLouisville$11K
- Wai Jing Geraldine KongLouisville$10K
- Huey Yuan TienLouisville$8K
- Israel TorresLouisville$5K
- Mohammed ElnoorLouisville$5K
- Kao FangLouisville$5K
- Misbah Al HanbaliLouisville$4K
- Russell ShatfordLouisville$4K
- Chern Yang Harmony TanLouisville$4K
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.