Ali Askari, MD
Rheumatology · Cleveland, OHNPI 1689699514
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 45 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 9 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 19.0% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $634 and has fallen 97.6% since, to $15 in 2021. That places this record below the midpoint for rheumatology clinicians in OH, where the typical reported total is $1,245.
Across 45 payments — averaging $17.29 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Pfizer$148
- Mallinckrodt Enterprises LLC$135
- Genentech USA, Inc.$124
- Novartis$106
- Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc.$81
- GSK$78
- plus $106 from 3 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$778100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pfizer | 10 | $148 |
| Mallinckrodt Enterprises LLC | 8 | $135 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 6 | $124 |
| Novartis | 5 | $106 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 4 | $81 |
| GSK | 5 | $78 |
| AbbVie | 3 | $56 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 3 | $38 |
| Radius Health, Inc. | 1 | $12 |
How this compares
$778 in reported general payments places this provider in the 40th percentile of 255 rheumatology providers in Ohio.
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.
Other rheumatology in Cleveland
- Leonard CalabreseCleveland$1.9M
- Chad DealCleveland$375K
- Muhammad KhanCleveland$262K
- Adam BrownCleveland$247K
- M Elaine HusniCleveland$181K
- Brian MandellCleveland$154K
- Jean LinCleveland$72K
- Gary HoffmanCleveland$69K
- Cassandra CalabreseCleveland$69K
- Alexandra Villa ForteCleveland$55K
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.