Stewart Kerr, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Fairbanks, AKNPI 1932157732
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — travel and lodging (41.1%), consulting fees and food and beverage — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 18 manufacturers reported payments, led by Spinal Simplicity, LLC at 34.3% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $19,882 and has fallen 92.0% since, to $1,600 in 2025.
Across 194 payments — averaging $262.85 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Spinal Simplicity, LLC$18K
- Medtronic$14K
- Globus Medical$8K
- Stryker$3K
- Summit Surgical Corp.$2K
- Zimmer Biomet$2K
- plus $4K from 12 others
Across 7 payments — averaging $8553.41 each. An ownership or investment interest held by the physician or an immediate family member.
- Spinal Simplicity, LLC$60K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$17,50034%
- Travel & lodging$20,97141%
- Food & beverage$9,56919%
- Education$2,9536%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Spinal Simplicity, LLC | 1 | $17,500 |
| Medtronic | 79 | $13,848 |
| Globus Medical(2 entities) | 35 | $7,796 |
| Stryker | 26 | $3,203 |
| Summit Surgical Corp. | 2 | $2,400 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 22 | $2,030 |
| Riwospine, Inc. | 4 | $1,406 |
| Richard Wolf Medical Instruments Corp. | 1 | $737 |
| Alaska Medical Technologies, LLC | 3 | $656 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 5 | $452 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 4 | $305 |
| Smith+Nephew | 4 | $288 |
| Solventum Corporation | 2 | $105 |
| KCI USA, Inc. | 1 | $91 |
| Abbott | 2 | $90 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 1 | $62 |
| Avanos Medical | 1 | $14 |
| Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $11 |
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.
- Minuteman$17,500
- CD HORIZON SPINAL SYSTEM$4,619
- MAZOR X SYSTEM$3,849
- Excelsius Robotics System$3,589
- Spine$2,551
- AEQUALIS PERFORM$2,128
- CD HORIZON$1,593
- PIVOX Oblique Lateral Spinal System$1,247
- XLIF$830
- Spine Endoscopy$737
- ExcelsiusGPS Robotic Navigation System$407
- iFuse Implant$390
- Excelsius - GPS$382
- Persona$358
- ALIF$337
- Gel-One Cross-linked Hyaluronate$256
- Mazor X Stealth Edition$224
- Direct Look Lateral System$159
- AEQUALIS PERFORM REVERSED$140
- MAKO$135
How this compares
Too few orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Alaskato place this figure against a meaningful peer group, so we don't.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alendronate Sodium | 17 | $535 |
| Gabapentin | 17 | $83 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery of the spine in Fairbanks
- Steven HumphreysSoldotna$199K
- Iain ElliottAnchorage$30K
- John AndreshakSoldotna$22K
- Samuel AdamsSoldotna$17K
- James EuleAnchorage$17K
- Derrick FogeAnchorage$7K
- Gene FalkowskiAnchorage$5K
- Upshur SpencerAnchorage$4K
- Brent AdcoxHomer$4K
- Mark FlanumAnchorage$3K
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.