Robert Creighton, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Chapel Hill, NCNPI 1497854368
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by speaking fees: $207,126 of the $302,624 with a category attached, or 68.4%. Arthrex accounts for 97.3% of it on its own, with 11 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $106,489, 5.8 times the $18,273 reported in 2019. Among orthopaedic surgery clinicians in NC with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 371 payments — averaging $815.70 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Arthrex$295K
- Southtech Orthopedics$3K
- Shoulder Innovations, Inc.$2K
- Tricoast Surgical Solutions LLC$1K
- Smith+Nephew$913
- Exactech, Inc.$418
- plus $802 from 6 others
Across 16 payments — averaging $13,466 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.
- Arthrex$215K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$61,21320%
- Speaking & faculty fees$207,12668%
- Travel & lodging$23,7438%
- Food & beverage$7,8153%
- Education$2,7271%
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 | 311 | $294,574 |
| Southtech Orthopedics | 3 | $2,727 |
| Shoulder Innovations, Inc. | 6 | $1,786 |
| Tricoast Surgical Solutions LLC | 30 | $1,403 |
| Smith+Nephew | 10 | $913 |
| Exactech, Inc. | 3 | $418 |
| Stryker | 3 | $386 |
| Lifenet Health | 1 | $150 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 1 | $113 |
| Arthrosurface Incorporated | 1 | $81 |
| Gemini Medical LLC | 1 | $53 |
| Photocure Inc | 1 | $20 |
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.
- InSet System$1,665
- ARTHROPLASTY IMPLANTS SHOULDER ARTHROPLASTY & FRACTURE UNIVERS$1,125
- ARTHROPLASTY IMPLANTS REVERS TOTAL SHOULDER REVERS$675
- EQUINOXE$418
- AEQUALIS PERFORM REVERSED$163
- AEQUALIS ASCEND FLEX$163
- AEQUALIS FLEX REVIVE$163
- AEQUALIS PERFORM$161
- Speedflex$150
- Quadlink$150
- GraftLink$150
- Q-FIX$138
- Bioinductive Implant with Arthroscopic Delivery System - Medium$138
- Healicoil$138
- Coblation Wands$135
- Fast-Fix 360$117
- NOVOSTITCH PRO$117
- REGENESORB$117
- Coblation$114
- Physio-Stim$113
How this compares
$302,624 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 845 orthopaedic surgery providers in North Carolina.
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 | 14 | $337 |
| Celecoxib | 13 | $304 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 34 | $156 |
| Meloxicam | 19 | $94 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 23 | $57 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Chapel Hill
- Thomas FehringCharlotte$18.3M
- Walter BeaverCharlotte$7.4M
- Robert AndersonCharlotte$6.6M
- William JiranekDurham$6.4M
- John MasonCharlotte$5.7M
- Thomas VailDurham$5.7M
- William DavisCharlotte$5.2M
- John EllingtonCharlotte$4.9M
- Mark EasleyDurham$4M
- Carroll JonesCharlotte$3.6M
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.