Stephen Sems, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Rochester, MNNPI 1861471260
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by royalties or licence payments: $584,137 of the $639,138 with a category attached, or 91.4%. Zimmer Biomet accounts for 100.0% of it on its own, with 4 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2020 at $176,522 and has fallen 88.7% since, to $19,925 in 2025. Among orthopaedic surgery clinicians in MN 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 112 payments — averaging $5706.59 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Zimmer Biomet$639K
- Stryker$128
- Smith+Nephew$85
- Johnson & Johnson$65
- Bone Support Inc.$28
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$584,13791%
- Consulting fees$45,7507%
- Travel & lodging$8,0371%
- Food & beverage$1,1290%
- Education$850%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Zimmer Biomet | 107 | $638,832 |
| Stryker | 2 | $128 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $85 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $65 |
| Bone Support Inc. | 1 | $28 |
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.
- Affixus$569,894
- Affixus Humeral Nail$15,705
- Trauma Product Portfolio$1,000
How this compares
$639,138 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th 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.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Rochester
- Daniel BerryRochester$21.5M
- Mark PagnanoRochester$14.8M
- Robert TrousdaleRochester$12.2M
- John SperlingRochester$12.2M
- Shawn O'DriscollRochester$10.5M
- David LewallenRochester$8M
- Rafael SierraRochester$4.9M
- Joaquin Sanchez-SoteloRochester$4M
- Michael TauntonRochester$3.5M
- Arlen HanssenRochester$3.2M
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.