Aristide Merola
Neurology · Columbus, OHNPI 1902265077
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (49.1%), speaking fees and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Abbott accounts for 86.8% of it on its own, with 6 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $63,781 and has fallen 65.4% since, to $22,086 in 2022. Among neurology clinicians in OH with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 263 payments — averaging $506.72 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Abbott$116K
- Boston Scientific$7K
- AbbVie$4K
- Biogen$3K
- H. Lundbeck A S$2K
- Surgical Information Sciences, Inc.$2K
- plus $446 from 1 others
Across 41 payments — averaging $7040.21 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- AbbVie$162K
- Lundbeck LLC$78K
- Boston Scientific$47K
- Abbott$2K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$65,46449%
- Speaking & faculty fees$53,12340%
- Travel & lodging$10,5398%
- Food & beverage$4,1423%
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 | 238 | $115,674 |
| Boston Scientific | 11 | $7,107 |
| AbbVie | 5 | $3,789 |
| Biogen | 2 | $2,551 |
| H. Lundbeck A S | 1 | $2,200 |
| Surgical Information Sciences, Inc. | 1 | $1,500 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 5 | $446 |
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.
- Infinity DBS Pulse Generators$62,625
- INFINITY$15,374
- Neuromodulation Dspsbls and Accs$14,518
- IonicRF Generator$13,389
- GENERAL DBS$6,650
- Proclaim IPG$4,617
- NORTHERA$2,200
- Proclaim Family of SCS IPGs$1,622
- Proclaim DRG IPG$710
- VERCISE$395
- SenSight$166
- ACTIVA$123
How this compares
$133,268 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 702 neurology providers in Ohio.
Other neurology in Columbus
- Kenneth MankowskiColumbus$1.4M
- Aaron BosterColumbus$1.2M
- Jacqueline NicholasColumbus$743K
- Geoffrey EubankColumbus$508K
- Jerry MendellColumbus$315K
- Andrew SmithColumbus$254K
- Douglas ScharreColumbus$191K
- Miriam FreimerColumbus$105K
- Allison JordanColumbus$98K
- Aram ZabetiCincinnati$1.6M
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.