Ami Epstein
Optometrist · Birmingham, ALNPI 1962478727
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (50.4%), travel and lodging and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 11 manufacturers reported payments, led by Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. at 35.2% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $2,433 and has fallen 65.0% since, to $851 in 2025. Among optometrist clinicians in AL with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 109 payments — averaging $70.83 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.$3K
- Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC$2K
- Alcon$1K
- Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc.$610
- Coopervision Inc.$345
- Glaukos Corporation$160
- plus $333 from 5 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$6008%
- Speaking & faculty fees$3505%
- Travel & lodging$2,87837%
- Food & beverage$3,89250%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. | 25 | $2,721 |
| Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 29 | $2,207 |
| Alcon | 24 | $1,345 |
| Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. | 14 | $610 |
| Coopervision Inc. | 7 | $345 |
| Glaukos Corporation | 2 | $160 |
| Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. | 1 | $119 |
| Harrow Eye, LLC | 2 | $100 |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec USA, Inc. | 1 | $56 |
| AbbVie | 3 | $46 |
| Novartis | 1 | $12 |
What the payments were tied to
Products named in the reported payments. Only payments of $100 or more are attributed here — the typical reported payment nationally is a meal worth about $16, and listing those product-by-product would be noise.
- ULTRA$1,254
- BIOTRUE$1,129
- INFUSE$812
- DAILIES$288
- Precision 1$253
- Acuvue$211
- SIMBRINZA$134
- Rocklatan$134
- Rhopressa$134
- Precision7$126
- PanOptix$123
- CEQUA$119
- ULTRA MULTIFOCAL TORIC$116
- VYZULTA$100
- MIEBO$100
How this compares
$7,720 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 749 optometrist providers in Alabama.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| XiidraLifitegrast | 19 | $31,767 |
| RestasisCyclosporine | 12 | $14,110 |
| VyzultaLatanoprostene Bunod | 24 | $12,746 |
| Cyclosporine | 13 | $8,321 |
| Latanoprost | 43 | $802 |
| Dorzolamide-TimololDorzolamide Hcl/Timolol Maleat | 12 | $351 |
| Doxycycline Hyclate | 15 | $226 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Companies that both paid and supply prescribed drugs
These companies both reported payments to this provider and make drugs the provider prescribed under Medicare Part D in 2024. For most specialties this overlap is expected — a cardiologist who is paid by a cardiology drugmaker also treats heart disease. It is shown so the reader can see it, not because it implies anything on its own.
| Company | Paid to this provider | Part D cost of their drugs |
|---|---|---|
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.Xiidra, Vyzulta | $2,721 | $44,51343 claims |
| AbbVieRestasis | $46 | $14,11012 claims |
Reading this fairly. The Part D column is what drug plans and patients paid pharmacies — this provider received none of it, and it reflects how many patients they treat and what those drugs cost. Against peers, this provider's reported payments sit in the 95th percentile of 749 optometrist providers in Alabama.
Other optometrist in Birmingham
- Kelly NicholsBirmingham$231K
- Leo SemesBirmingham$60K
- Andrew PuckerBirmingham$27K
- Ashley SavageBirmingham$9K
- Caroline PateBirmingham$6K
- Casey BrownBirmingham$5K
- Valencia WellsBirmingham$5K
- Nicholas OnkenBirmingham$5K
- Mark SchaefferHoover$470K
- Benjamin KachelmanFlorence$101K
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.