Amita Bhalla, MD
Internal Medicine · Saint Louis, MONPI 1396754842
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 39 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 19 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 23.6% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $439 and has fallen 91.0% since, to $39 in 2024.
Across 39 payments — averaging $17.55 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Tactile Systems Technology Inc$161
- ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp)$112
- Esperion Therapeutics, Inc.$62
- Pfizer$55
- Novo Nordisk$44
- GE HealthCare$35
- plus $216 from 13 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$685100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tactile Systems Technology Inc | 4 | $161 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 8 | $112 |
| Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. | 4 | $62 |
| Pfizer | 4 | $55 |
| Novo Nordisk | 3 | $44 |
| GE HealthCare | 2 | $35 |
| Amgen | 2 | $29 |
| Novartis | 1 | $20 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $20 |
| Exact Sciences | 1 | $19 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 1 | $18 |
| Abbott | 1 | $17 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $16 |
| Sanofi Pasteur Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| AstraZeneca | 1 | $13 |
| Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $12 |
| Napo Pharmaceuticals Inc | 1 | $12 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 1 | $11 |
How this compares
$685 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 2,097 internal medicine providers in Missouri.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Levothyroxine Sodium | 49 | $245 |
| Memantine Hcl | 17 | $82 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other internal medicine in Saint Louis
- Vinay KamatSaint Louis$191K
- David PrelutskySaint Louis$182K
- Tracy NorfleetSaint Louis$132K
- Paul OlivoSaint Louis$98K
- William SummersSaint Louis$93K
- Mark ScheperleSaint Louis$89K
- Shiyang ZhangSaint Louis$45K
- Bernard McGuireSaint Louis$37K
- Daniel GaitanSaint Louis$34K
- Nathan FarkasSaint Louis$33K
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.