Scott Appell, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Vestavia, ALNPI 1891715918
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $21,900 of the $30,026 with a category attached, or 72.9%. Exactech, Inc. accounts for 60.2% of it on its own, with 24 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $12,959 and has fallen 87.8% since, to $1,582 in 2025.
Across 119 payments — averaging $252.32 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Exactech, Inc.$18K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$5K
- Zimmer Biomet$5K
- Johnson & Johnson$641
- Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated$193
- Linkbio Corp$177
- plus $830 from 19 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$21,90073%
- Travel & lodging$3,61112%
- Food & beverage$4,50115%
- Entertainment$140%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Exactech, Inc. | 13 | $18,075 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 2 | $5,400 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 40 | $4,710 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 21 | $641 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 9 | $193 |
| Linkbio Corp | 1 | $177 |
| Aesculap Implant Systems, LLC | 3 | $129 |
| Smith+Nephew | 4 | $127 |
| Medacta USA, Inc. | 1 | $117 |
| Bioventus LLC | 3 | $63 |
| Pacira Therapeutics, Inc. | 3 | $54 |
| Convatec Inc. | 2 | $42 |
| Heraeus Medical, LLC. | 1 | $41 |
| Abbott | 2 | $38 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 2 | $31 |
| Boston Scientific | 2 | $30 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 2 | $28 |
| Solventum Corporation | 1 | $28 |
| Vertex | 1 | $21 |
| ERMI LLC | 1 | $17 |
| Kyowa Kirin, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Sanara Medtech Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $14 |
| Optos, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 1 | $6 |
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.
- NOVATION HIP$17,990
- ACTIS$5,400
- PINNACLE$5,400
- Oxford$798
- Avenir$575
- Persona$349
- ROSA-Knee$275
- ROSA$120
- AMISTEM$117
- Robotics-Knees$107
How this compares
$30,026 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 319 orthopaedic surgery 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 402 | $3,510 |
| Gabapentin | 652 | $2,691 |
| Celecoxib | 122 | $2,172 |
| Cephalexin | 158 | $1,088 |
| Pregabalin | 43 | $1,027 |
| Methylprednisolone | 112 | $987 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 78 | $732 |
| Meloxicam | 79 | $533 |
| Doxycycline Hyclate | 23 | $523 |
| Ondansetron OdtOndansetron | 26 | $397 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 101 | $371 |
| Ibuprofen | 18 | $240 |
| Tamsulosin Hcl | 76 | $176 |
| Prednisone | 31 | $167 |
| Methocarbamol | 15 | $71 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Vestavia
- Lawrence LemakVestavia$216K
- Jeffrey DugasBirmingham$11.5M
- Benton EmblomBirmingham$3M
- Herrick SiegelBirmingham$1.2M
- Paul CanaleDaphne$609K
- Kenneth MooreBirmingham$342K
- Joseph SherrillBirmingham$221K
- Jonathan QuadeBirmingham$217K
- Ginger BryantBirmingham$209K
- Marcus RothermichBirmingham$207K
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.