Ralph Gambardella, MD
Sports Medicine · Los Angeles, CANPI 1205803087
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by speaking fees: $19,806 of the $30,575 with a category attached, or 64.8%. Smith+Nephew accounts for 74.0% of it on its own, with 11 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $17,250 and has fallen 91.4% since, to $1,477 in 2025.
Across 96 payments — averaging $318.49 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Smith+Nephew$23K
- Stryker$3K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$3K
- Arcuro Medical Inc$1K
- Zimmer Biomet$186
- Miach Orthopaedics, Inc.$183
- plus $705 from 6 others
Across 2 payments — averaging $1170.00 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.
- Anika Therapeutics, Inc.$2K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$2,6339%
- Speaking & faculty fees$19,80665%
- Travel & lodging$530%
- Food & beverage$8,08326%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Smith+Nephew | 49 | $22,633 |
| Stryker | 30 | $3,062 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 1 | $2,633 |
| Arcuro Medical Inc | 4 | $1,173 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 2 | $186 |
| Miach Orthopaedics, Inc. | 1 | $183 |
| Vericel Corporation | 3 | $171 |
| Saxum Surgical, Inc. | 1 | $150 |
| Bioventus LLC | 2 | $149 |
| Aesculap Biologics, LLC | 1 | $126 |
| Catalyst Orthoscience | 1 | $84 |
| Pacira Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
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.
- Coblation Wands$15,000
- 560 SERIES HD Camera System$3,806
- COR$2,633
- Covac$2,500
- Topaz$2,500
- Microblator 30$2,500
- SUPERBALL$1,138
- CINCHLOCK SS$1,123
- CINCHLOCK$815
- Q-FIX$619
- N/A$583
- CAP-FIX$479
- HIP ARTHROSCOPY ACCESS & INSTRUMENTATION SET$457
- Accu-pass$408
- Bioinductive Implant with Arthroscopic Delivery System - Medium$350
- Acufex$285
- MICRORAPTOR Knotless Shoulder$229
- AMBIENT$141
- Healicoil$137
- NA$137
How this compares
$30,575 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 662 sports medicine providers in California.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Diclofenac Sodium ErDiclofenac Sodium | 37 | $426 |
| Celecoxib | 16 | $160 |
| Meloxicam | 14 | $23 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other sports medicine in Los Angeles
- Neal ElattracheLos Angeles$51M
- Carleton VangsnessLos Angeles$872K
- Michael BanffyLos Angeles$578K
- Seth GamradtLos Angeles$567K
- Reza OmidLos Angeles$400K
- Orr LimpisvastiLos Angeles$335K
- George HatchLos Angeles$255K
- David McAllisterLos Angeles$186K
- Alexander WeberLos Angeles$82K
- James TiboneLos Angeles$74K
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.