Nicole Bernal, MD
Surgical Critical Care · Columbus, OHNPI 1811194426
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (34.4%), speaking fees and food and beverage — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. It is spread thinly across 14 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 20.3%. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $9,517 and has fallen 79.4% since, to $1,957 in 2025. Among surgical critical care clinicians in OH 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 76 payments — averaging $349.36 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Community Blood Center$5K
- Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc.$5K
- Polynovo North America LLC$3K
- Smith+Nephew$3K
- Kerecis Limited$3K
- Avita Medical Americas, LLC$3K
- plus $5K from 8 others
Across 182 payments — averaging $1433.58 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- Polynovo North America LLC$261K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$9,14534%
- Speaking & faculty fees$8,76033%
- Travel & lodging$1,0034%
- Food & beverage$7,63729%
- Gifts$60%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Community Blood Center | 3 | $5,401 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 1 | $4,745 |
| Polynovo North America LLC | 2 | $3,232 |
| Smith+Nephew | 5 | $3,097 |
| Kerecis Limited | 7 | $2,822 |
| Avita Medical Americas, LLC | 24 | $2,729 |
| Vericel Corporation | 4 | $2,200 |
| Urgo Medical North America, LLC | 12 | $937 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 6 | $545 |
| Aroa Biosurgery Incorporated | 4 | $452 |
| Polymedics Innovations Inc. | 5 | $147 |
| Medline Industries LP | 1 | $137 |
| Acera Surgical, Inc. | 1 | $74 |
| Teleflex LLC | 1 | $34 |
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.
- STRATAGRAFT$4,745
- Kerecis Omega3 Marigen$3,569
- Kerecis Omega3 SurgiClose$3,228
- Novosorb BTM$3,150
- Oasis$3,028
- ACTICOAT 4" X 4"$2,920
- COLLAGENASE SANTYL$2,920
- Versajet$2,920
- NexoBrid$2,177
- Kerecis Omega3 GraftGuide$2,069
- Kerecis SurgiClose$1,872
- RECELL$1,504
- Kerecis Omega3 Wound$968
- Kerecis Omega3 Surgibind$968
- INTEGRA$754
- VASHE WOUND SOLUTION 250 ML (8.5 FL OZ) FLIP TOP CAP$681
- Kerecis GraftGuide$468
- PRIMATRIX$355
- INTEGRA DERMAL REGENERATION TEMPLATE$355
- Epicel$169
How this compares
$26,551 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 79 surgical critical care providers in Ohio.
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 surgical critical care in Columbus
- Jennifer Knight DavisColumbus$66K
- Daniel EifermanColumbus$60K
- Erich WesselColumbus$9K
- Brian WeissColumbus$9K
- Carrie ValdezColumbus$8K
- Yizhi ShanColumbus$7K
- Kwang SuhColumbus$6K
- Michal RadomskiColumbus$6K
- Paul BeeryColumbus$5K
- John BachColumbus$5K
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.