Has Wobo Bekwelem, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $2,746 in general payments to Wobo Bekwelem, MD across 68 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Wobo Bekwelem, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Wobo Bekwelem, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Wobo Bekwelem, MD

Interventional Cardiology · Bemidji, MNNPI 1962720136

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (59.9%), travel and lodging and education — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 16 manufacturers reported payments, led by W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. at 50.4% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $1,693, 7.5 times the $227 reported in 2019. That places this record below the midpoint for interventional cardiology clinicians in MN, where the typical reported total is $5,396.

$2,746in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 68 payments — averaging $40.38 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.$1K
Medtronic$600
Inari Medical, Inc.$173
Boston Scientific$155
Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc.$111
Abbott$61
plus $261 from 10 others

$17,797in research payments, 2019–2025

Across 5 payments — averaging $3559.49 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.

Eli Lilly$18K

What the payments were for

Travel & lodging$1,09040%
Food & beverage$1,64460%
Education$120%

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
W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.	12	$1,385
Medtronic(2 entities)	23	$600
Inari Medical, Inc.	1	$173
Boston Scientific	7	$155
Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc.	9	$111
Abbott	3	$61
Cardiovascular Systems Inc.	2	$37
Getinge USA Sales, LLC	1	$32
Abiomed	1	$29
Terumo Medical Corporation	2	$29
Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc.	2	$28
Cardinal Health 200 LLC	1	$27
Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc.	1	$25
Philips North America LLC	1	$20
Cardiva Medical, Inc.	1	$19
Stryker	1	$16

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

$2,746 in reported general payments places this provider in the 35th percentile of 84 interventional cardiology providers in Minnesota.

See all interventional cardiology providers in Minnesota →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$94,404

Medicare patients

544

Services billed

1,129

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
EliquisApixaban	77	$85,692
Repatha SureclickEvolocumab	23	$32,970
XareltoRivaroxaban	24	$29,532
Cilostazol	151	$4,707
Metoprolol Succinate	267	$4,576
ClopidogrelClopidogrel Bisulfate	301	$4,521
Atorvastatin Calcium	230	$2,726
Isosorbide Mononitrate ErIsosorbide Mononitrate	78	$1,623
Ezetimibe	48	$1,470
Rosuvastatin Calcium	89	$1,385
Losartan Potassium	65	$757
Flecainide Acetate	24	$703
Amlodipine Besylate	67	$646
Lisinopril	65	$532
Nitroglycerin	56	$439

Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.

Other interventional cardiology in Bemidji

Muhammad PanhwarBemidji$14K
Gregory SchuchardBemidji$3K
Thom DahleSaint Cloud$1.1M
Stephen KiddSaint Cloud$607K
Brian StegmanSt Cloud$587K
Emmanouil BrilakisMinneapolis$548K
Wesley PedersenMinneapolis$493K
Michael ManolesMinneapolis$201K
Jay TraverseMinneapolis$198K
Robert WilsonMinneapolis$176K

See the full list for Minnesota →

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.

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