Aaron Kern
Internal Medicine · Lakewood, CANPI 1891726725
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 99.8% of the total across 172 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. It is spread thinly across 28 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 13.4% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. Reporting peaked in 2021 at $1,090 and has fallen 97.9% since, to $23 in 2023.
Across 172 payments — averaging $17.22 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Astellas Pharma US Inc$398
- Johnson & Johnson$355
- Merck$243
- Pfizer$228
- AstraZeneca$222
- AbbVie$209
- plus $1K from 22 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$2,956100%
- Education$60%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 21 | $398 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 22 | $355 |
| Merck | 15 | $243 |
| Pfizer | 12 | $228 |
| AstraZeneca | 15 | $222 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 12 | $209 |
| GSK | 11 | $175 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 7 | $126 |
| Novartis | 7 | $105 |
| Amgen | 7 | $102 |
| Eisai Inc. | 5 | $80 |
| Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. | 4 | $78 |
| Novo Nordisk | 5 | $67 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 3 | $67 |
| Sanofi | 4 | $66 |
| Mallinckrodt Enterprises LLC | 3 | $65 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 3 | $64 |
| Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 3 | $63 |
| Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. | 2 | $46 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 2 | $37 |
| Radius Health, Inc. | 2 | $37 |
| Nevro Corp. | 1 | $23 |
| Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Sanofi Pasteur Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Linus Health, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Pharming Healthcare, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $15 |
How this compares
$2,962 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 13,581 internal medicine providers in California.
Other internal medicine in Lakewood
- Andrew ChengSouth San Francisco$55.1M
- Tung NgoNewport Beach$4.9M
- Christian EversullStanford$2.9M
- Christian SandrockSacramento$2.1M
- Hatim HusainSan Diego$2M
- Teck LingPalo Alto$1.1M
- Hyong Kimla Jolla$1M
- Rohit Loombala Jolla$965K
- Fred CohenSan Francisco$929K
- Steven EdelmanSan Diego$863K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.