Robert Cates, DO
Orthopaedic Surgery · Austin, MNNPI 1548606114
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 104 payments — averaging $296.43 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Arthrex$9K
- Gemini Medical LLC$9K
- Smith+Nephew$5K
- Stryker$2K
- Foundation Medical, LLC$2K
- Wardlow Enterprises$1K
- plus $2K from 6 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$4,15913%
- Food & beverage$3,56512%
- Education$23,10575%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Arthrex | 31 | $9,425 |
| Gemini Medical LLC | 13 | $9,099 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $5,000 |
| Stryker | 38 | $2,255 |
| Foundation Medical, LLC | 9 | $2,007 |
| Wardlow Enterprises | 1 | $1,431 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 3 | $1,269 |
| DJO, LLC | 1 | $134 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 3 | $96 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 2 | $96 |
| Avanos Medical | 1 | $14 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 1 | $3 |
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.
- ATTUNE$1,203
- MAKO$580
- TRIATHLON$379
- ACCOLADE$234
- TORNIER PERFORM REVERSED GLENOID$174
- RESTORATION$124
- INSIGNIA$120
- SECUR-FIT$115
How this compares
$30,829 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 533 orthopaedic surgery providers in Minnesota.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Montelukast Sodium | 14 | $145 |
| Ramipril | 17 | $114 |
| Meloxicam | 19 | $83 |
| Torsemide | 14 | $68 |
| Amoxicillin | 11 | $10 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Austin
- Daniel BerryRochester$21.5M
- Mark PagnanoRochester$14.8M
- John SperlingRochester$13.5M
- Robert TrousdaleRochester$12.2M
- Shawn O'DriscollRochester$10.5M
- Bryan Den HartogStillwater$9.1M
- Joseph NesslerSartell$8.6M
- David LewallenRochester$8.4M
- Rafael SierraRochester$5M
- Joaquin Sanchez-SoteloRochester$4.1M
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.