Akara Forsythe, MD
Pain Medicine · Bowie, MDNPI 1770621039
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 84 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 24 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 15.5% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $563 and has fallen 95.6% since, to $25 in 2025. That places this record below the midpoint for pain medicine clinicians in MD, where the typical reported total is $1,479.
Across 84 payments — averaging $18.56 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Abbott$242
- Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc.$240
- Boston Scientific$152
- Indivior Inc.$136
- Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC$102
- MDD US Operations, LLC$87
- plus $600 from 18 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$1,559100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Abbott | 14 | $242 |
| Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 14 | $240 |
| Boston Scientific | 7 | $152 |
| Indivior Inc. | 8 | $136 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 7 | $102 |
| MDD US Operations, LLC | 4 | $87 |
| Pacira Therapeutics, Inc. | 2 | $67 |
| Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. | 3 | $64 |
| Scilex Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 3 | $58 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $51 |
| Merck | 2 | $48 |
| Nevro Corp. | 1 | $47 |
| Daiichi Sankyo Inc. | 2 | $37 |
| Pfizer | 3 | $34 |
| Amgen | 2 | $28 |
| Novartis | 2 | $28 |
| Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 1 | $14 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $14 |
| AbbVie | 1 | $14 |
| Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Inc | 1 | $14 |
| Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
How this compares
$1,559 in reported general payments places this provider in the 50th percentile of 144 pain medicine providers in Maryland.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Baclofen | 18 | $222 |
| Duloxetine Hcl | 18 | $173 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other pain medicine in Bowie
- Sarah MerrittBowie$22K
- Vipul MangalOxon Hill$764K
- Randy DavisBaltimore$169K
- Paul ChristoBaltimore$137K
- Kunal SoodGermantown$70K
- Ali TurabiBethesda$47K
- Behnam JafarpourBaltimore$45K
- Eric FinkelsteinOwings Mills$37K
- Ankush JainBethesda$26K
- Sudhir RaoMount Airy$25K
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.