Sung Lee, MD
Colon & Rectal Surgery · Knoxville, TNNPI 1023499423
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $1,072 of the $1,322 with a category attached, or 81.1%. 13 manufacturers reported payments, led by Intuitive Surgical at 51.5% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $505 and has fallen 90.3% since, to $49 in 2025. That places this record below the midpoint for colon & rectal surgery clinicians in TN, where the typical reported total is $1,600.
Across 31 payments — averaging $42.65 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$681
- Atricure, Inc.$200
- Medtronic$135
- Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.$91
- W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.$49
- La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company$45
- plus $121 from 7 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$25019%
- Food & beverage$1,07281%
Most of this is food and beverage — typically meals provided during product presentations at a clinic or hospital. Nationally that is the single largest category of reported payments by count.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Surgical | 9 | $681 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 4 | $200 |
| Medtronic | 4 | $135 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 4 | $91 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 1 | $49 |
| La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company | 1 | $45 |
| Ambu Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Merck | 1 | $22 |
| THD America, Inc. | 2 | $17 |
| Daiichi Sankyo Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Braintree Laboratories, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Stryker | 1 | $16 |
| Merit Medical Systems 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.
How this compares
$1,322 in reported general payments places this provider in the 45th percentile of 31 colon & rectal surgery providers in Tennessee.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Gabapentin | 94 | $227 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 46 | $215 |
| Metronidazole | 73 | $136 |
| Ciprofloxacin Hcl | 75 | $134 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 64 | $83 |
| Methocarbamol | 22 | $82 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other colon & rectal surgery in Knoxville
- Gregory LowKnoxville$6K
- Jay YoungKnoxville$5K
- Elissa FalconerKnoxville$1K
- James BakerKnoxville$638
- Christopher SmithKnoxville$206
- Aimal KhanNashville$35K
- Sree SuryadevaraNashville$24K
- Justin MonroeMemphis$14K
- William HarbNashville$8K
- Shannon McChesneyNashville$7K
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.