Paul Kraemer, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Carmel, INNPI 1770535411
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — royalties or licence payments (29.4%), speaking fees and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 26 manufacturers reported payments, led by Medtronic at 40.3% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $78,266 and has fallen 80.7% since, to $15,093 in 2025.
Across 509 payments — averaging $542.52 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medtronic$111K
- Stryker$81K
- Globus Medical$49K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$15K
- Intrinsic Therapeutics$7K
- Zimmer Biomet$6K
- plus $6K from 20 others
Across 12 payments — averaging $1768.29 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.
- Intrinsic Therapeutics$16K
- Stryker$5K
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$81,24329%
- Consulting fees$78,12828%
- Speaking & faculty fees$78,33828%
- Travel & lodging$23,8639%
- Food & beverage$8,3833%
- Education$6,1902%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 253 | $111,321 |
| Stryker | 125 | $81,231 |
| Globus Medical | 33 | $49,292 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 13 | $15,216 |
| Intrinsic Therapeutics | 14 | $6,941 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 16 | $6,190 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 3 | $3,765 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 21 | $513 |
| 4web, Inc. | 1 | $500 |
| Providence Medical Technology, Inc. | 5 | $166 |
| Carlsmed, Inc. | 2 | $122 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $121 |
| Theragen, Inc. | 5 | $102 |
| Alphatec Spine, Inc | 1 | $95 |
| Ossdsign USA Incorporated | 2 | $92 |
| Depuy Synthes Products, Inc. | 1 | $88 |
| Cerapedics Inc. | 1 | $87 |
| Nanohive Medical LLC | 1 | $72 |
| Kerecis Limited | 4 | $59 |
| Augmedics Inc. | 1 | $45 |
| Vertex | 1 | $26 |
| Spineart USA Inc | 1 | $26 |
| Abbott | 1 | $24 |
| VB Spine LLC | 1 | $21 |
| Mallinckrodt Enterprises LLC | 1 | $16 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $13 |
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.
- CLYDESDALE$62,721
- PIVOX Oblique Lateral Spinal System$25,842
- PYRENEES CERVICAL PLATE SYSTEM$24,519
- PYRENEES$16,921
- CREO$15,344
- CREO MCS$14,604
- BARRICAID ACD (ANNULAR CLOSURE DEVICE)$13,609
- SYMPHONY$11,318
- CREO MCS, Fenestrated, Sideloading$9,855
- CASCADIA INTERBODY SYSTEM$9,100
- ELSA ATP$8,509
- O-ARM$5,670
- iFuse Implant$3,750
- SYNAPSE$3,315
- ZERO-P$3,315
- INSIGNIA$2,600
- STRYKER NAV3$2,500
- Persona$2,374
- 1688$1,500
- TRIDENT$1,500
How this compares
$276,144 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 48 orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Indiana.
See all orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Indiana →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 46 | $424 |
| Methylprednisolone | 45 | $314 |
| Gabapentin | 20 | $135 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 11 | $129 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 16 | $127 |
| Cyclobenzaprine Hcl | 16 | $48 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 13 | $36 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery of the spine in Carmel
- Rick SassoCarmel$1.6M
- Barrett BoodyCarmel$59K
- Michael McCarthyCarmel$50K
- Joseph SmuckerCarmel$39K
- Praveen PerniCarmel$16K
- Justin MillerCarmel$7K
- Stephen RitterCarmel$4K
- James HardackerCarmel$746
- David SchwartzIndianapolis$1.5M
- Zeshan HyderCrown Point$1.1M
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.