Thomas Ehlers, DPM
Foot & Ankle Surgery · Littleton, CONPI 1235620253
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (58.9%), travel and lodging and education — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 21 manufacturers reported payments, led by Stryker at 56.6% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $4,009 and has fallen 74.5% since, to $1,023 in 2025.
Across 97 payments — averaging $79.18 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Stryker$4K
- Smith+Nephew$929
- Zimmer Biomet$874
- Paragon 28, Inc.$352
- Medtronic$244
- Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation Inc.$150
- plus $785 from 15 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$3,11541%
- Food & beverage$4,52059%
- Education$451%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stryker | 43 | $4,346 |
| Smith+Nephew | 17 | $929 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 10 | $874 |
| Paragon 28, Inc. | 3 | $352 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $244 |
| Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation Inc. | 2 | $150 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $118 |
| Kerecis Limited | 3 | $113 |
| Tactile Systems Technology Inc | 1 | $103 |
| Aroa Biosurgery Incorporated | 4 | $101 |
| Mimedx Group, Inc. | 2 | $62 |
| Ossio Inc | 1 | $62 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 1 | $40 |
| Medline Industries LP | 1 | $37 |
| Treace Medical Concepts, Inc. | 1 | $30 |
| Access Pro Medical, LLC | 1 | $25 |
| Next Science LLC | 1 | $23 |
| Alafair Biosciences, Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $17 |
| Lifenet Health | 1 | $17 |
| Averitas Pharma Inc. | 1 | $14 |
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.
- PROstep$2,393
- N/A$429
- Stravix$399
- 7 X 23MM CITRELOCK IMPLANT$309
- InCore Lapidus$282
- PROPHECY$272
- Abre$244
- Trabecular Metal (TM)$226
- STRAVIX PL$148
- Product Portfolio$147
- MTP$140
- A.L.P.S.$132
- MOTOBAND$118
- GRAFIX PL$107
- Flexitouch Plus$103
- Entre Plus$103
How this compares
$7,681 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 181 foot & ankle surgery providers in Colorado.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Methylprednisolone | 29 | $237 |
| Amoxicillin-Clavulanate PotassAmoxicillin/Potassium Clav | 29 | $226 |
| Doxycycline Hyclate | 15 | $163 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other foot & ankle surgery in Littleton
- Katherine KloberdanzLittleton$12K
- David ShainLittleton$10K
- Michael HoughtonFort Collins$2M
- Joshua MetzlEnglewood$1.8M
- Brad DresherColorado Springs$1.3M
- Thomas ClantonVail$1.1M
- Brett SachsWheat Ridge$806K
- Jeffrey LehrmanFort Collins$628K
- Kevin NagamaniDenver$288K
- Keith JacobsonDenver$241K
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.