Oliver Nikolaus, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Salt Lake City, UTNPI 1700149572
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (47.2%), travel and lodging and food and beverage — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 11 manufacturers reported payments, led by Gyder Surgical US Inc at 46.5% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $32,927 and has fallen 52.5% since, to $15,634 in 2025.
Across 112 payments — averaging $560.93 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Gyder Surgical US Inc$29K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$20K
- Depuy Synthes Products, Inc.$7K
- Stryker$5K
- Johnson & Johnson$1K
- Smith+Nephew$167
- plus $130 from 5 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$29,62447%
- Travel & lodging$29,15946%
- Food & beverage$4,0416%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Gyder Surgical US Inc | 3 | $29,211 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 27 | $20,024 |
| Depuy Synthes Products, Inc. | 9 | $6,971 |
| Stryker | 40 | $5,029 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 20 | $1,292 |
| Smith+Nephew | 6 | $167 |
| Globus Medical | 2 | $44 |
| Medtronic | 2 | $29 |
| Active Medical, LLC | 1 | $23 |
| Solventum Corporation | 1 | $19 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $16 |
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.
How this compares
$62,824 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 221 orthopaedic surgery providers in Utah.
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 | 30 | $141 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 22 | $102 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 18 | $93 |
| Amoxicillin | 11 | $16 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Salt Lake City
- Aaron HofmannSalt Lake City$10.7M
- Jeremy GilillandSalt Lake City$2.9M
- Robert TashjianSalt Lake City$2.6M
- Jeffrey JacksonSalt Lake City$2.3M
- Thomas HigginsSalt Lake City$1.2M
- Christopher MartinSalt Lake City$1.2M
- Christopher PeltSalt Lake City$432K
- Robert BurksSalt Lake City$355K
- Charles SaltzmanSalt Lake City$254K
- Stephen AokiSalt Lake City$239K
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.