Venkata Kakarla, MD
Surgery · Lawrenceville, GANPI 1437390150
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $43,750 of the $47,824 with a category attached, or 91.5%. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 98.4% of it on its own, with 18 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2021 at $16,514 and has fallen 69.7% since, to $5,008 in 2025. Among surgery 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 66 payments — averaging $724.61 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$47K
- Polynovo North America LLC$163
- Hologic Sales And Service, LLC$133
- Davol Inc.$114
- Integra Lifesciences Corporation$44
- Johnson & Johnson$41
- plus $282 from 13 others
Across 3 payments — averaging $19,533 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.
- Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.$59K
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$1,6193%
- Food & beverage$2,2315%
- Education$43,75091%
- Gifts$2240%
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 | 38 | $47,047 |
| Polynovo North America LLC | 2 | $163 |
| Hologic Sales And Service, LLC | 3 | $133 |
| Davol Inc. | 3 | $114 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 3 | $44 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $41 |
| Kerecis Limited | 1 | $34 |
| Myriad Genetic Laboratories, Inc. | 2 | $34 |
| Vertex | 1 | $26 |
| Axogen | 1 | $25 |
| Braintree Laboratories, Inc. | 2 | $24 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $23 |
| TELA Bio, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Innovation Technologies Inc | 1 | $18 |
| Solventum Corporation | 1 | $17 |
| Access Pro Medical, LLC | 1 | $16 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $16 |
| La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company | 1 | $14 |
| Aroa Biosurgery Incorporated | 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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$46,021
- DAVINCI XI$750
How this compares
$47,824 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 855 surgery 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 83 | $469 |
| Neomycin Sulfate | 11 | $54 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 13 | $47 |
| Metronidazole | 12 | $38 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in Lawrenceville
- Suraj MenacheryLawrenceville$29K
- Chad CopperGainesville$999K
- Zachary KlaassenAugusta$763K
- Stephen OdomAustell$599K
- Fritz Jean-PierreMarietta$464K
- Kendra GrubbAtlanta$374K
- Harry LightfootSmyrna$241K
- Oliver WhippleSavannah$222K
- Nelson RoyallGainesville$220K
- Ankit PatelAtlanta$217K
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.