Ron Pitkanen, MD
Pain Medicine · Mountain Brk, ALNPI 1457677015
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 489 payments — averaging $33.63 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Boston Scientific$13K
- Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc.$659
- Vertos Medical, Inc.$363
- Abbott$328
- Almatica Pharma LLC$243
- Scilex Pharmaceuticals Inc.$225
- plus $1K from 26 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$1,60010%
- Speaking & faculty fees$6,60040%
- Travel & lodging$9416%
- Food & beverage$7,28944%
- Education$150%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Scientific | 321 | $13,190 |
| Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 36 | $659 |
| Vertos Medical, Inc. | 17 | $363 |
| Abbott | 16 | $328 |
| Almatica Pharma LLC | 12 | $243 |
| Scilex Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 13 | $225 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 10 | $184 |
| AbbVie | 10 | $181 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 8 | $154 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $111 |
| Assertio Therapeutics, Inc. | 5 | $100 |
| Arbor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 6 | $97 |
| Biodelivery Sciences International, Inc. | 5 | $95 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 4 | $67 |
| Nevro Corp. | 4 | $57 |
| SPR Therapeutics, Inc | 3 | $52 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 2 | $42 |
| Vertex | 2 | $40 |
| MML US, Inc. | 1 | $25 |
| Averitas Pharma Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Virtus Pharmaceuticals LLC | 1 | $21 |
| Forte Bio-pharma LLC | 1 | $20 |
| Saluda Medical Americas, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA | 1 | $20 |
| IBSA Pharma Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Novartis | 1 | $19 |
| Avanos Medical | 1 | $16 |
| Merit Medical Systems Inc | 1 | $16 |
| Curonix LLC | 1 | $15 |
| Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Redhill Biopharma Inc. | 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.
- GENERAL PAIN MANAGEMENT$4,400
- SPECTRA WAVEWRITER$2,276
- WAVEWRITER ALPHA$2,200
- GENERAL - THERAPIES$800
- FLOSEAL$111
- WaveWriter Alpha Prime 16$111
- mild Device Kit$108
How this compares
$16,444 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 77 pain medicine providers in Alabama.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| BelbucaBuprenorphine Hcl | 40 | $26,275 |
| Xtampza ErOxycodone Myristate | 40 | $21,733 |
| Buprenorphine | 76 | $18,503 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 722 | $16,339 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 507 | $13,031 |
| Fentanyl | 67 | $5,341 |
| Gabapentin | 424 | $5,001 |
| Pregabalin | 209 | $4,798 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 121 | $2,210 |
| Methocarbamol | 124 | $1,827 |
| Morphine Sulfate ErMorphine Sulfate | 87 | $1,790 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 79 | $1,710 |
| Lidocaine | 15 | $1,688 |
| Hydromorphone Hcl | 93 | $1,408 |
| Morphine Sulfate | 39 | $459 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Companies that both paid and supply prescribed drugs
These companies both reported payments to this provider and make drugs the provider prescribed under Medicare Part D in 2024. For most specialties this overlap is expected — a cardiologist who is paid by a cardiology drugmaker also treats heart disease. It is shown so the reader can see it, not because it implies anything on its own.
| Company | Paid to this provider | Part D cost of their drugs |
|---|---|---|
| Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc.Belbuca, Xtampza Er | $659 | $48,00880 claims |
| Hikma Pharmaceuticals USABuprenorphine, Morphine Sulfate | $20 | $18,962115 claims |
Reading this fairly. The Part D column is what drug plans and patients paid pharmacies — this provider received none of it, and it reflects how many patients they treat and what those drugs cost. Against peers, this provider's reported payments sit in the 95th percentile of 77 pain medicine providers in Alabama.
Other pain medicine in Mountain Brk
- Christopher PaulBirmingham$64K
- Michael CosgroveHuntsville$25K
- Elliott PenningtonDaphne$15K
- James ThackerHuntsville$13K
- Grant StoneMobile$11K
- Hayden HundleyDothan$11K
- Hugh MaddoxAnniston$10K
- Jeremy BarlowVestavia Hills$9K
- Nitin ChhabraHoover$9K
- Casey LongMontgomery$9K
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.