Top Joint Replacement Surgeons by Medicare Procedure Volume
The newly released Medicare procedure volume dataset reveals a new national leader in hip replacement, a familiar champion in knee, and a familiar Florida cluster in shoulder. Here are the top ten surgeons in each procedure, with year over year movement.
The newest Medicare Physician Annual Release, published this month by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, gives the most current public picture of who is performing the most primary hip, knee, and shoulder replacements in the United States. We have integrated the dataset and refreshed our national rankings, and the result is a release with real movement at the top.
A new surgeon now leads the country in hip replacement volume: Jonathan Yerasimides of Louisville, Kentucky, who climbed one spot to #1 with 323 Medicare-billed hip replacements, overtaking Beverly Hills surgeon Andrew Yun. In knee replacement, Alexander Sah of Fremont, California holds the top position for a second consecutive release, though his Medicare-billed volume fell from 588 to 513 procedures. In shoulder replacement, the Florida cluster around Boca Raton and Venice continues to dominate, with Jonathan Levy of Boca Raton leading at 231 procedures and a Boca Raton colleague making the single biggest year over year jump of any surgeon in the top 10 across all three procedures.
For patients, Medicare procedure volume serves as one of the most consistently studied predictors of joint replacement outcomes. Surgeons in the top decile of volume have published lower complication rates, lower revision rates, and shorter lengths of stay across both hip and knee replacement [¹] [²]. Reverse shoulder arthroplasty volume is also strongly associated with outcomes and is one of the fastest growing procedures in the dataset.
Below are the top 10 surgeons in each procedure, with year over year rank and volume movement, followed by the patterns we see in the underlying data.
National Top 10: Hip Replacement
Hip replacement volume at the very top of the dataset is stable to growing, with two new top-10 entrants from Florida and a meaningful surge from the Stanford and Bay Area corridor.
| Rank | Surgeon | Location | Procedures | Prior rank | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Yerasimides, MD | Louisville, KY | 323 | 2 | ↑1 |
| 2 | Andrew Yun, MD | Beverly Hills, CA | 301 | 1 | ↓1 |
| 3 | Alexander Sah, MD | Fremont, CA | 266 | 4 | ↑1 |
| 4 | Charles Decook, MD | Cumming, GA | 239 | 5 | ↑1 |
| 5 | Edward Stolarski, MD | Sarasota, FL | 238 | 3 | ↓2 |
| 6 | John Wang, MD | West Palm Beach, FL | 201 | 14 | ↑8 |
| 7 | Henry Biggs, DO | Naples, FL | 198 | 23 | ↑16 |
| 8 | Louay Toma, MD | Walnut Creek, CA | 194 | 7 | ↓1 |
| 9 | Robert Mayle, MD | Stanford, CA | 192 | 13 | ↑4 |
| 10 | Andrew Star, MD | Blue Bell, PA | 190 | 17 | ↑7 |
See the full national hip rankings for the complete top 100.
National Top 10: Knee Replacement
Knee replacement is where this release diverges most from prior years. Volumes at the very top of the dataset are mostly down, even as new high-volume surgeons enter the top 10. We address what that may mean further down in this article.
| Rank | Surgeon | Location | Procedures | Prior rank | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexander Sah, MD | Fremont, CA | 513 | 1 | held |
| 2 | Manish Patel, MD, FAAOS | Franklin, VA | 441 | 2 | held |
| 3 | Martin Roche, MD | Ft. Lauderdale, FL | 411 | 5 | ↑2 |
| 4 | Andrew Yun, MD | Beverly Hills, CA | 373 | 3 | ↓1 |
| 5 | Timothy Kavanaugh, MD | Scottsdale, AZ | 350 | outside top 50 | new entry |
| 6 | Charles Decook, MD | Cumming, GA | 346 | 4 | ↓2 |
| 7 | Herman Botero, DO | Knoxville, TN | 330 | 16 | ↑9 |
| 8 | John Dearborn, MD | Menlo Park, CA | 318 | 12 | ↑4 |
| 9 | Yogesh Mittal, MD | Tulsa, OK | 317 | 10 | ↑1 |
| 10 | Robert Mehrle, MD | Jackson, MS | 303 | 8 | ↓2 |
See the full national knee rankings for the complete top 100.
National Top 10: Shoulder Replacement
Shoulder replacement is the procedure with the broadest year over year growth. Total shoulder arthroplasty surgeons in the dataset increased by roughly 6 percent. Most of the top 10 grew their case volume, and the biggest single rank jump in any procedure happened here.
| Rank | Surgeon | Location | Procedures | Prior rank | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Levy, MD | Boca Raton, FL | 231 | 1 | held |
| 2 | Derek Cuff, MD | Venice, FL | 204 | 2 | held |
| 3 | Andrew Jawa, MD | Waltham, MA | 183 | 6 | ↑3 |
| 4 | Jacob Deister, MD | Topeka, KS | 175 | 8 | ↑4 |
| 5 | Ryan Simovitch, MD | West Palm Beach, FL | 168 | 3 | ↓2 |
| 6 | Steven Goldberg, MD | Naples, FL | 159 | 5 | ↓1 |
| 7 | Steven Hattrup, MD | Phoenix, AZ | 147 | 4 | ↓3 |
| 8 | Casey Beleckas, MD, MSc | Boca Raton, FL | 147 | 42 | ↑34 |
| 9 | Ryan Krupp, MD | Louisville, KY | 144 | 17 | ↑8 |
| 10 | Zachary Leitze, MD | St George, UT | 141 | 13 | ↑3 |
See the full national shoulder rankings for the complete top 100.
What The Newest Data Reveals
A New National Leader In Hip Replacement
For the first time in our records, Andrew Yun is not the country's highest-volume Medicare hip surgeon. Jonathan Yerasimides of Louisville, Kentucky climbed from #2 to #1 with 323 Medicare-billed hip replacements, an increase of 51 procedures over his prior release. Dr. Yun's Medicare-billed hip volume fell from 335 to 301 procedures, a decline of 34. Both surgeons remain in the top three nationally and Dr. Yun retains a meaningful state lead in California, where he is also the highest-volume Medicare knee replacement surgeon among Beverly Hills providers.
The Florida coast also strengthened its presence at the top of the table. John Wang of West Palm Beach jumped eight spots to #6 (201 procedures, up from 165). Henry Biggs of Naples leapt sixteen spots to #7 (198 procedures, up from 155). Sarasota's Edward Stolarski slid two spots to #5 but remains a top-five operator. Together, three of the top seven Medicare hip surgeons in the country now practice in Florida.
A second pattern in hip is the strong Bay Area corridor. Alexander Sah (Fremont, #3), Louay Toma (Walnut Creek, #8), and Robert Mayle (Stanford, #9) place three Northern California surgeons inside the top 10. Add Andrew Yun in Southern California and California holds four of the top 10 hip slots.
Sah Holds Knee Despite A Sizable Volume Drop
Alexander Sah's national #1 knee position is unchanged, but his Medicare-billed knee volume fell 13 percent, from 588 to 513 procedures. Manish Patel of Franklin, Virginia held #2 but his volume also dropped, from 491 to 441 procedures. Charles Decook in Cumming, Georgia slipped from #4 to #6 with a modest count decline.
This is not a story about any individual surgeon performing fewer cases. It is consistent with a broader Medicare shift that has been visible in our data for several releases: the highest-volume knee replacement surgeons are increasingly performing cases outside of Medicare reimbursement, particularly in ambulatory surgical centers and through bundled payment contracts with commercial payers. A surgeon doing 500 Medicare-billed cases may now be doing 800 to 1,000 cases overall, with the difference reimbursed through other channels.
That pattern leaves room for surgeons whose practices remain Medicare-heavy to surge. Martin Roche of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida climbed two spots to #3 with a 62-procedure increase. Herman Botero of Knoxville, Tennessee climbed nine spots to #7 with a 70-procedure increase, the largest year over year volume gain in the knee top 10. And Timothy Kavanaugh of Scottsdale, Arizona enters the top 10 at #5 (350 procedures) from outside our prior top 50, the most striking new entrant in any procedure this release.
For patients comparing surgeons, the takeaway is that a small year over year shift in Medicare volume at the high end is not necessarily a quality signal. The five-year trend matters more than any single year.
Florida's Shoulder Cluster Holds, And Casey Beleckas Has The Move Of The Year
Florida continues to dominate shoulder replacement. Five of the top eight Medicare shoulder surgeons in the country practice in Florida: Levy in Boca Raton (#1), Cuff in Venice (#2), Simovitch in West Palm Beach (#5), Goldberg in Naples (#6), and Beleckas in Boca Raton (#8). Florida's concentration in shoulder is structural. The state's combined dense Medicare-age population, multiple high-volume reverse shoulder fellowship programs, and several large orthopedic groups in the Boca Raton and Naples corridors have produced a sustained cluster effect.
The standout individual story is Casey Beleckas of Boca Raton. Dr. Beleckas climbed 34 rank positions, from #42 to #8 (95 to 147 procedures), the single largest jump of any surgeon in any procedure in our top-10 tables this release. Outside Florida, Andrew Jawa of Waltham, Massachusetts (#3, up from #6) and Jacob Deister of Topeka, Kansas (#4, up from #8) round out the most prominent shoulder climbers.
Shoulder is also the procedure where total surgeon volume across the dataset grew the most in the new release, up roughly 6 percent year over year. This is consistent with the multi-year trend of reverse shoulder arthroplasty replacing both anatomic shoulder replacement and hemiarthroplasty as the dominant treatment for rotator cuff arthropathy in older patients.
What The National Volume Trends Say
Three procedure-level patterns are worth noting in the underlying dataset:
Hip replacement Medicare volume is roughly flat. The total number of orthopedic surgeons billing Medicare for total hip arthroplasty (HCPCS 27130) was essentially unchanged year over year. Top-end volumes grew. Mid-range volumes were stable.
Knee replacement Medicare volume is contracting at the top end. The total number of orthopedic surgeons billing Medicare for total knee arthroplasty (HCPCS 27447) declined by roughly 2 percent year over year. Volumes among the top 10 mostly fell. The most plausible explanation is the continuing migration of total knee arthroplasty out of inpatient hospital settings (where Medicare is dominant) and into ambulatory surgical centers (where commercial payers are increasingly competitive). This is not a quality signal. It is a billing-channel signal.
Shoulder replacement is growing across the dataset. Total shoulder arthroplasty (HCPCS 23472) surgeon counts grew by roughly 6 percent. Top-of-the-table volumes mostly increased. This is consistent with the durable growth of reverse shoulder arthroplasty as a procedure category.
How These Rankings Are Built
We rank surgeons by Medicare-billed procedure volume as reported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Medicare Physician and Other Practitioners by Provider and Service dataset. We filter to providers identified by CMS as Orthopedic Surgery or Sports Medicine. We exclude physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and non-physician providers. We aggregate by individual NPI across all reported places of service. We use the same HCPCS codes the CMS publishes for each primary procedure: 27130 for total hip arthroplasty, 27447 for total knee arthroplasty, and 23472 for total shoulder arthroplasty. The 23472 code captures both anatomic and reverse total shoulder arthroplasty in a single line item.
A few limitations worth understanding:
- These are primary joint replacements only. Revision surgeries (where a prior replacement is repaired or removed and reimplanted) bill under separate CPT codes and are not represented in these rankings. The cohort of high-volume revision surgeons is a distinct group of specialists, and patients with a failed prior implant should ask their surgeon about revision-specific case volume rather than relying on these numbers.
- This is Medicare volume only. A surgeon's commercial, self-pay, and other-payer volume is not in this dataset. High-volume surgeons in commercial-heavy markets may be ranked lower here than their total practice volume would suggest.
- There is a reporting lag. The newest annual release reflects the most recent complete reporting year, which is roughly 16 to 18 months behind the current calendar quarter.
- Volume is not the same as outcome. Volume is one of the most consistently studied outcome correlates in joint replacement, but it is not a substitute for surgeon-specific outcome data, hospital quality metrics, or patient-specific clinical fit.
The full methodology, including how we handle duplicate NPI records, place-of-service aggregation, and the MD/DO filter, is available on our data methodology page.
How To Use This Data As A Patient
A national top 10 list is useful as context, not as a shopping list. Most patients will not travel to Louisville, Boca Raton, or Fremont for a joint replacement, and they should not need to. Roughly 8,200 orthopedic surgeons across the country are in the dataset, and many of them perform enough cases per year to be considered high volume by published outcome benchmarks (typically defined as 50 or more cases annually for hip and knee, and 20 or more for shoulder) [³].
A more useful path is:
- Look at your state ranking to identify the highest-volume surgeons within reasonable travel distance. Each state ranking page lists the top performers for hip, knee, and shoulder in your state.
- Look at your city or metro ranking for surgeons in your immediate area.
- Compare two or three candidates on procedure-specific volume. A 200-case-per-year hip surgeon is more relevant to a hip replacement decision than a 200-case-per-year shoulder surgeon, even though both qualify as high volume.
- Consult your primary care physician about candidate selection and review hospital affiliations on each surgeon's profile.
About The Dataset
The underlying data is the most recently released Medicare Physician and Other Practitioners by Provider and Service annual file from CMS. It is public-domain Medicare claims data, free to access, and used by researchers, journalists, and patient-facing platforms across the country. Our integrated copy is available at the OrthoProcedures Open Data API under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license, with 8,228 surgeon profiles and twelve years of historical procedure volume per surgeon.
If you write about orthopedic surgery, work in policy or research, or are a clinician evaluating peers, we encourage you to use the dataset. A machine-readable catalog is available at /data/v1/catalog.json and an LLM-friendly summary at /data/v1/llms.txt.
References
[¹] Katz, J. N., et al. "Association between hospital and surgeon procedure volume and outcomes of total hip replacement in the United States Medicare population." Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. The widely cited Medicare-population analysis showing volume-outcome associations for total hip arthroplasty.
[²] Ravi, B., et al. "Relation between surgeon volume and risk of complications after total hip arthroplasty: propensity score matched cohort study." BMJ. A propensity-matched analysis confirming volume-outcome associations after adjustment for patient case mix.
[³] American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Surgeon Volume Recommendations for Joint Replacement. Discusses commonly referenced thresholds for high-volume surgeon classification.
This article reflects the most recently released Medicare procedure dataset, integrated by OrthoProcedures.com on May 21, 2026. We refresh national rankings each year when CMS publishes a new annual file. Surgeon-specific procedure counts and rankings on this page are subject to change with each release.
