Wolfgang Gaertner
Colon & Rectal Surgery · Minneapolis, MNNPI 1083857148
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — education (49.4%), speaking fees and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 78.5% of it on its own, with 8 other manufacturers making up the rest. Among colon & rectal surgery clinicians in MN 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 160 payments — averaging $1000.19 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$126K
- Coloplast$32K
- Gyrus ACMI, Inc.$1K
- Davol Inc.$548
- Dilon Technologies, Inc.$162
- Olympus Corporation Of The Americas$101
- plus $110 from 3 others
Across 4 payments — averaging $9293.83 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.
- Davol Inc.$35K
- Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.$2K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$24,08015%
- Speaking & faculty fees$30,00019%
- Travel & lodging$21,34113%
- Food & beverage$5,5663%
- Education$79,04349%
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 | 126 | $125,633 |
| Coloplast | 21 | $32,376 |
| Gyrus ACMI, Inc. | 1 | $1,100 |
| Davol Inc. | 5 | $548 |
| Dilon Technologies, Inc. | 2 | $162 |
| Olympus Corporation Of The Americas | 1 | $101 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 2 | $71 |
| THD America, Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Conmed Corporation | 1 | $17 |
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$123,359
- SenSura Mio$8,514
- PERISTEEN$6,733
- SENSURE MIO$3,600
- DA VINCI SP$1,000
- Phasix Mesh$429
- HemoBlast Bellows$159
- EVIS EXERA lll COLONOVIDEOSCOPE$101
How this compares
$160,030 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 64 colon & rectal surgery providers in Minnesota.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Gavilyte-GPeg3350/Sod Sulf,bicarb,cl/Kcl | 26 | $673 |
| Peg-3350 And ElectrolytesPeg3350/Sod Sulf,bicarb,cl/Kcl | 17 | $475 |
| Neomycin Sulfate | 23 | $136 |
| Metronidazole | 31 | $70 |
| Ondansetron Hcl | 27 | $35 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other colon & rectal surgery in Minneapolis
- Elliot ArsoniadisMinneapolis$35K
- Pamela BurgessMinneapolis$5K
- Amy ThorsenMinneapolis$3K
- Alice LeeMinneapolis$1K
- Genevieve Melton MeauxMinneapolis$1K
- Isabelle le LeannecMinneapolis$806
- Katherine WatsonMinneapolis$429
- Robert MadoffMinneapolis$333
- Mark WeltonMinneapolis$226
- Elle KalbfellMinneapolis$133
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.