Nickolas Linkous, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Appleton, WINPI 1285015834
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $21,609 of the $33,766 with a category attached, or 64.0%. 13 manufacturers reported payments, led by Arthrex at 25.8% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2021 at $13,722 and has fallen 82.9% since, to $2,352 in 2025.
Across 127 payments — averaging $265.88 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Arthrex$9K
- Smith+Nephew$8K
- True North Surgical Inc$6K
- Stryker$3K
- Great Lakes Orthopedics$2K
- Medwest Associates$1K
- plus $4K from 7 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$8,18824%
- Food & beverage$3,96912%
- Education$21,60964%
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 | 41 | $8,726 |
| Smith+Nephew | 14 | $8,419 |
| True North Surgical Inc | 11 | $5,908 |
| Stryker(2 entities) | 30 | $3,070 |
| Great Lakes Orthopedics | 3 | $2,409 |
| Medwest Associates | 2 | $1,222 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 14 | $1,194 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 3 | $730 |
| Acumed LLC | 4 | $716 |
| Pinnacle, Inc | 2 | $641 |
| Medacta USA, Inc. | 1 | $548 |
| Pacira Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $105 |
| Paragon 28, Inc. | 1 | $80 |
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.
- NA$1,048
- Q-FIX$808
- Comprehensive Fracture Shoulder$720
- Elbow Plating System$679
- Anatomic Radial Head System$679
- Clavicle Plating System$679
- Polarus 3 Solution$679
- Scapula Plating System$679
- MYSPINE$548
- HIPCHECK$489
- MAKO$289
- PROLAYER$148
- ES2$144
- TRITANIUM$144
- SALVATION$143
- T2$141
- ACCOLADE$139
- TRIATHLON$139
- Bone Anchors with Arthroscopic Delivery System$131
- ULTRABUTTON$131
How this compares
$33,766 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 498 orthopaedic surgery providers in Wisconsin.
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.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Appleton
- Robert LimoniAppleton$514K
- Shawn HenniganAppleton$455K
- Brandon RebholzAppleton$137K
- Timothy MologneAppleton$133K
- Robert ChurchillGrafton$7.7M
- Richard IllgenMadison$6.1M
- Jeffrey McLaughlinOshkosh$2M
- Clifford TribusMadison$1.4M
- Thomas ZdeblickMadison$1.1M
- Justin MitchellOnalaska$666K
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.