Nicholas Schmerbach, DPM
Foot & Ankle Surgery · Cedar Falls, IANPI 1598043754
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — travel and lodging (34.6%), food and beverage and education — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. It is spread thinly across 28 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 23.1%. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $4,638 and has fallen 67.0% since, to $1,530 in 2025.
Across 234 payments — averaging $88.59 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Arthrex$5K
- Wardlow Enterprises$4K
- Stryker$3K
- Synthes USA Products LLC$3K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$2K
- Treace Medical Concepts, Inc.$1K
- plus $3K from 22 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$3,06015%
- Travel & lodging$7,16935%
- Food & beverage$6,10529%
- Education$4,39621%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Arthrex | 21 | $4,780 |
| Wardlow Enterprises | 29 | $3,816 |
| Stryker | 58 | $3,451 |
| Synthes USA Products LLC | 1 | $3,060 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 10 | $1,933 |
| Treace Medical Concepts, Inc. | 13 | $1,115 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 19 | $631 |
| Organogenesis Inc. | 18 | $408 |
| Smith+Nephew | 14 | $371 |
| AbbVie | 12 | $240 |
| Medshape, Inc. | 1 | $150 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 5 | $134 |
| Convatec Inc. | 4 | $116 |
| Vertex | 5 | $97 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 5 | $79 |
| Osiris Therapeutics Inc. | 3 | $76 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 3 | $64 |
| Kerecis Limited | 2 | $32 |
| Medela LLC | 1 | $30 |
| Prism Medical | 1 | $21 |
| Linvatec Corporation | 1 | $20 |
| DJO, LLC | 1 | $20 |
| Reprise Biomedical, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $12 |
| Paragon 28, Inc. | 2 | $11 |
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.
- INBONE$1,035
- INFINITY$906
- VA-LCP PLATES & SCREWS$764
- TMC SPEEDMTP$608
- Eclipse$150
- PERCUPLASTY TRAY$136
- ORTHOLOC 2 LAPIFUSE$122
- PROSTEP MICA$122
- PROstep$120
- PuraPly$113
How this compares
$20,729 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 112 foot & ankle surgery providers in Iowa.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Methylprednisolone | 105 | $605 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 12 | $66 |
| Meloxicam | 17 | $42 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other foot & ankle surgery in Cedar Falls
- Charles CibulaCedar Falls$38K
- Philip MorrealeCedar Falls$8K
- Michael LeeDes Moines$2.1M
- Phinit PhisitkulSioux City$1.4M
- Sean GrambartDes Moines$590K
- Kelsey MillonigDes Moines$330K
- Gregory FooteWaterloo$35K
- Nathan ShumwayCouncil Bluffs$33K
- Justin RaatzDes Moines$28K
- Tuvi MendelDavenport$26K
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.