Spero Karas, MD
Sports Medicine · Atlanta, GANPI 1104832906
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by royalties or licence payments: $83,987 of the $137,019 with a category attached, or 61.3%. Smith+Nephew accounts for 98.4% of it on its own, with 9 other manufacturers making up the rest. Among sports medicine clinicians in GA 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 75 payments — averaging $1826.91 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Smith+Nephew$135K
- United Orthopedics LLC$1K
- Linvatec Corporation$177
- Anika Therapeutics, Inc.$175
- Arthrosurface Incorporated$162
- Encore Medical, LP$160
- plus $313 from 4 others
Across 50 payments — averaging $4841.48 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.
- Smith+Nephew$158K
- Linvatec Corporation$84K
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$83,98761%
- Consulting fees$2,5452%
- Speaking & faculty fees$41,03930%
- Travel & lodging$5,3264%
- Food & beverage$2,9212%
- Education$1,2001%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Smith+Nephew | 63 | $134,833 |
| United Orthopedics LLC | 1 | $1,200 |
| Linvatec Corporation | 2 | $177 |
| Anika Therapeutics, Inc. | 2 | $175 |
| Arthrosurface Incorporated | 1 | $162 |
| Encore Medical, LP | 2 | $160 |
| Arthrex | 1 | $144 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 1 | $125 |
| Integrity Orthopaedics, Inc. | 1 | $27 |
| Cardiva Medical, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
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.
- MICRORAPTOR$108,759
- Biceptor$41,230
- Healicoil$28,614
- Q-FIX$17,954
- Bioinductive Implant with Arthroscopic Delivery System - Medium$12,814
- LENS 4K$11,628
- Accu-pass$11,385
- Arthro-Pierce$8,510
- ELITE Shoulder$8,510
- Firstpass$8,510
- Regeneten$7,114
- REGENESORB$5,233
- MICRORAPTOR Knotless Anchor$2,760
- Suturefix$2,760
- HEALICOIL PK Shoulder$2,760
- MULTIFIX S$1,359
- Endobutton$1,295
- Mini-Open Latarjet$1,151
- PROCISE Tonsil$802
- HEALICOIL PK Hip$802
How this compares
$137,019 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 168 sports medicine providers in Georgia.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 24 | $172 |
| Naproxen | 22 | $83 |
| Promethazine Hcl | 13 | $21 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other sports medicine in Atlanta
- John XerogeanesAtlanta$4M
- Xavier DuraldeAtlanta$77K
- Thomas MyersAtlanta$72K
- Phillip LangerAtlanta$33K
- Richard DanilkowiczAtlanta$32K
- Austin LooneyAtlanta$29K
- James KercherAtlanta$24K
- Kyle HammondAtlanta$18K
- Charles GartenAtlanta$16K
- John KoprivaAtlanta$10K
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.