RxDoctor Payments Data

Ariel Velasco, MD

Nephrology · Houston, TXNPI 1851361703

Payments from drug & device makers

$53,893in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 99 payments — averaging $544.38 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

  • AstraZeneca$52K
  • Amgen$413
  • Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc.$246
  • Travere Therapeutics, Inc.$203
  • Vifor Pharma, Inc.$192
  • Mallinckrodt Enterprises LLC$152
  • plus $616 from 15 others

What the payments were for

  • Food & beverage$2,04095%
  • Education$1015%

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

19
20
22
23
24
25

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.

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.

How this compares

$53,893 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 1,070 nephrology providers in Texas.

See all nephrology providers in Texas

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024
$245,095
Medicare patients
449
Services billed
2,901

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

DrugClaimsCost to plans & patients
FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol254$259,313
LokelmaSodium Zirconium Cyclosilicate53$67,521
VelphoroSucroferric Oxyhydroxide11$36,169
KerendiaFinerenone27$32,108
Cinacalcet Hcl50$25,029
Sevelamer Carbonate44$21,173
JardianceEmpagliflozin16$15,655
VeltassaPatiromer Calcium Sorbitex13$12,338
Calcitriol651$10,168
Potassium Citrate ErPotassium Citrate60$7,245
RetacritEpoetin Alfa-Epbx12$4,968
Calcium Acetate39$3,596
Terazosin Hcl114$2,278
Losartan Potassium183$1,777
Nifedipine ErNifedipine36$1,593

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.

CompanyPaid to this providerPart D cost of their drugs
AstraZenecaFarxiga, Lokelma$52,070$326,833307 claims
Fresenius USA Marketing, Inc.Velphoro$88$36,16911 claims
BayerKerendia$73$32,10827 claims
Boehringer IngelheimJardiance$37$15,65516 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 85th percentile of 1,070 nephrology providers in Texas.

Other nephrology in Houston

See the full list for Texas

Where these figures come from

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