Walter Smith, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery · Birmingham, ALNPI 1194221614
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — grants (38.2%), consulting fees and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 13 manufacturers reported payments, led by Encore Medical, LP at 31.1% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $22,443 and has fallen 63.9% since, to $8,098 in 2025. Among orthopaedic surgery clinicians in AL 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 98 payments — averaging $400.29 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Encore Medical, LP$12K
- Smith+Nephew$12K
- Arthrex$10K
- Stryker$2K
- Linkbio Corp$2K
- Zimmer Biomet$700
- plus $215 from 7 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$8,21821%
- Grants$15,00038%
- Travel & lodging$7,05518%
- Food & beverage$3,95510%
- Education$5,00013%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Encore Medical, LP | 27 | $12,188 |
| Smith+Nephew | 30 | $11,580 |
| Arthrex | 1 | $10,000 |
| Stryker | 22 | $2,465 |
| Linkbio Corp | 3 | $2,080 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 7 | $700 |
| Exactech, Inc. | 1 | $105 |
| Biocomposites Inc | 2 | $25 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $24 |
| ERMI LLC | 1 | $20 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $17 |
| Heraeus Medical, LLC. | 1 | $13 |
| Illuminoss Medical, 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.
- DJO SURGICAL$20,798
- BLUEPRINT PATIENT SPECIFIC INSTRUMENTATION$1,334
- Mini-Open Latarjet$749
- Healicoil$297
- Bioinductive Implant with Arthroscopic Delivery System - Medium$261
- INFINITY$166
- HIPCHECK$162
- AETOS Shoulder System$139
- ANCHORAGE$139
- AXSOS$131
- Persona$125
- FOOTPRINT$113
- EQUINOXE$105
How this compares
$39,229 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 319 orthopaedic surgery providers in Alabama.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 27 | $198 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery in Birmingham
- Jeffrey DugasBirmingham$11.5M
- Benton EmblomBirmingham$3M
- Herrick SiegelBirmingham$1.2M
- Kenneth MooreBirmingham$342K
- Joseph SherrillBirmingham$221K
- Jonathan QuadeBirmingham$217K
- Ginger BryantBirmingham$209K
- Marcus RothermichBirmingham$207K
- Daniel KimBirmingham$147K
- Eugene BrabstonBirmingham$117K
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.