Robert Bess, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Greenwood Village, CONPI 1841380474
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by royalties or licence payments: $1,410,091 of the $1,838,136 with a category attached, or 76.7%. Stryker accounts for 84.8% of it on its own, with 22 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $351,188 and has fallen 62.6% since, to $131,193 in 2025. Among orthopaedic surgery clinicians in CO 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 267 payments — averaging $6884.40 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Stryker$1.6M
- Alphatec Spine, Inc$97K
- VB Spine LLC$63K
- Globus Medical$46K
- Carlsmed, Inc.$38K
- Mirus, LLC$20K
- plus $16K from 17 others
Across 33 payments — averaging $42,040 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.
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$808K
- Globus Medical$520K
- Stryker$59K
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$1,410,09177%
- Consulting fees$393,32721%
- Travel & lodging$28,2162%
- Food & beverage$5,3030%
- Education$1,2000%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stryker | 112 | $1,558,334 |
| Alphatec Spine, Inc | 43 | $97,096 |
| VB Spine LLC | 8 | $63,204 |
| Globus Medical(2 entities) | 24 | $45,665 |
| Carlsmed, Inc. | 1 | $37,875 |
| Mirus, LLC | 15 | $20,433 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 13 | $3,751 |
| MML US, Inc. | 11 | $2,982 |
| Amgen | 2 | $2,620 |
| Cerapedics Inc. | 4 | $1,410 |
| Medtronic | 11 | $1,289 |
| Gemini Mountain Medical, LLC | 1 | $1,200 |
| Ecential Robotics | 2 | $653 |
| Surgalign Spine Technologies, Inc. | 6 | $519 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 3 | $476 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 2 | $229 |
| Spinal Elements, Inc. | 3 | $190 |
| Seaspine Orthopedics Corporation | 1 | $87 |
| DJO, LLC | 1 | $44 |
| Pinnacle Transplant Technologies, LLC | 1 | $28 |
| Misonix Inc | 1 | $21 |
| Spineology Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 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.
- EVEREST SPINAL SYSTEM$1,071,264
- EVEREST$421,354
- Other - Miscellaneous$92,060
- MESA SPINAL SYSTEM$66,803
- VersaTie$41,806
- aprevo$37,875
- NILE ALTERNATIVE FIXATION SYSTEM$35,750
- CYGNUS Anterior Cervical Plate$20,418
- AIRO$18,053
- RAVINE LATERAL ACCESS SYSTEM$12,000
- PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS$11,463
- BACS$10,875
- EUROPA Pedicle Screw Systyem$10,675
- EUROPA Pedicle Screw System$9,743
- MiRus 3DR Lumbar Interbody System$9,100
- IO Expandable Lumbar Interbody$9,100
- RIGEL 3DR Cervical Interbody$9,100
- OZARK CERVICAL PLATE SYSTEM$8,250
- NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT$7,807
- OASYS$7,500
How this compares
$1,838,136 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 383 orthopaedic surgery providers in Colorado.
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 Greenwood Village
- Theodore SchlegelGreenwood Village$5M
- Woosik ChungGreenwood Village$253K
- Joel MattaVail$21M
- Douglas DennisDenver$16.8M
- Brian HaasDenver$5.1M
- Charlie YangDenver$3.6M
- Robert GreenhowLone Tree$2.8M
- David LoucksLone Tree$2.7M
- Bharat DesaiGolden$1.4M
- Kris AldenBasalt$1.3M
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.