Industry payments to physicians · Kentucky · 2024

Kentucky

In Kentucky, drug and device makers reported $35M in general payments to 16,316 covered recipients (physicians and other clinicians) for 2024 — a mean of $2,126 each — plus $61M tied to research and $6M in ownership interests.

A payment is a disclosed financial tie, not proof of wrongdoing — many are research grants, consulting fees, or royalties a physician earns on a device they invented. Transparency, not a verdict.

$35M

general payments

16,316

covered recipients paid

$2,126

mean per physician

Top specialties in Kentucky

General payments by specialty; the figure on the right is the average per physician.

Orthopaedic Surgery $6M $22,909/phys

Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine $3M $143,347/phys

Family $2M $634/phys

Surgery of the Hand $1M $85,808/phys

Dermatology $1M $10,521/phys

Gastroenterology $1M $6,722/phys

Psychiatric/Mental Health $1M $1,681/phys

Psychiatry $1M $6,695/phys

Physician Assistant $943,174 $1,071/phys

Surgery $921,201 $3,144/phys

Hematology & Oncology $885,972 $7,322/phys

Nurse Practitioner $853,641 $802/phys

Highest-paid physicians in Kentucky

By total general payments, 2024 — largely device royalties to inventor-physicians.

Jonathan Yerasimides Orthopaedic Surgery · Louisville · top payer: Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. $2M

Arthur Malkani Orthopaedic Surgery · Louisville · top payer: Stryker Corporation $2M

Luis Scheker Surgery of the Hand · Louisville · top payer: Aptis Medical, LLC $1M

Mladen Djurasovic Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Louisville · top payer: Medtronic, Inc. $963,962

Leon Kircik Dermatology · Lousiville · top payer: UCB, Inc. $726,398

Jeffery Gum Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Louisville · top payer: Medtronic, Inc. $615,434

Gerald Dryden Gastroenterology · Louisville · top payer: AbbVie Inc. $535,577

Keneth Strenge Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Paducah · top payer: Alphatec Spine, Inc $530,686

Paul Karpecki Optometrist · Lexington · top payer: Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. $514,610

John Lewis Orthopaedic Surgery · Louisville · top payer: Stryker Corporation $365,409

Roger Owens Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Louisville · top payer: Globus Medical, Inc. $332,056

Rifaat El-Mallakh Psychiatry · Louisville · top payer: Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. $310,638

Carmen Pinto Psychiatry · Elizabethtown · top payer: Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. $274,792

Phillip Singer Orthopaedic Surgery · Bowling Green · top payer: SI-BONE, Inc. $255,817

Robert Knetsche Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Danville · top payer: Choice Spine, LLC $235,582

Bradley Eilerman Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism · Florence · top payer: Corcept Therapeutics $230,244

John Korba Unspecified · Bowling Green · top payer: Convatec Inc. $212,800

Melissa Knuckles Dermatology · Corbin · top payer: Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. $212,775

John Kitchens Retina Specialist · Lexington · top payer: Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. $194,837

Firas Badin Hematology & Oncology · Lexington · top payer: Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. $193,467

Ruth Carrico Family · Louisville · top payer: Pfizer Inc. $192,094

Lee Clore Allergy & Immunology · Owensboro · top payer: Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. $190,948

Eric Smith Surgery · Ashland · top payer: Intuitive Surgical, Inc. $182,515

Brian Thornton Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery · Louisville · top payer: Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation Inc. $175,583

James Sublett Allergy & Immunology · Louisville · top payer: Genzyme Corporation $174,034

RECORDED — CMS Open Payments figures for program year 2024. DERIVED — state totals, per-physician means, and rankings are sums over those records.

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What this is — and is not

A disclosure record of industry–physician financial ties in Kentucky — not evidence that any payment influenced care, not a measure of a physician's quality, and not advice about your own doctor. To verify a specific physician, search CMS Open Payments directly.