Asif Akhtar, MD
Cardiovascular Disease · Houston, TXNPI 1801900352
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 9 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. 5 manufacturers reported payments, led by Novo Nordisk at 44.8% of the total. That places this record below the midpoint for cardiovascular disease clinicians in TX, where the typical reported total is $3,258.
Across 9 payments — averaging $57.89 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Novo Nordisk$233
- Endologix LLC$104
- Amgen$78
- Abbott$68
- Boston Scientific$37
Across 138 payments — averaging $665.66 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.
- Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH$40K
- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co.kg$19K
- Vifor (international) Ltd.$15K
- Novo Nordisk AS$9K
- ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp)$8K
- Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.$1K
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$521100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Novo Nordisk | 2 | $233 |
| Endologix LLC | 1 | $104 |
| Amgen | 3 | $78 |
| Abbott | 1 | $68 |
| Boston Scientific | 2 | $37 |
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
$521 in reported general payments places this provider in the 20th percentile of 1,515 cardiovascular disease providers in Texas.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| EliquisApixaban | 86 | $97,043 |
| XareltoRivaroxaban | 64 | $64,715 |
| Nifedipine ErNifedipine | 342 | $9,092 |
| BrilintaTicagrelor | 11 | $8,252 |
| Olmesartan Medoxomil | 172 | $4,086 |
| Olmesartan-HydrochlorothiazideOlmesartan/Hydrochlorothiazide | 115 | $3,877 |
| Flecainide Acetate | 47 | $2,647 |
| Metoprolol Succinate | 191 | $2,206 |
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 190 | $2,010 |
| ClopidogrelClopidogrel Bisulfate | 105 | $1,434 |
| Clonidine Hcl | 143 | $1,219 |
| Rosuvastatin Calcium | 75 | $1,088 |
| Telmisartan | 24 | $1,059 |
| Metoprolol Tartrate | 196 | $1,009 |
| Omeprazole | 38 | $797 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other cardiovascular disease in Houston
- Biykem BozkurtHouston$606K
- Reynolds DelgadoHouston$471K
- Christie BallantyneHouston$413K
- Asif AliHouston$411K
- Sanjay ManiarHouston$263K
- Joggy GeorgeHouston$231K
- Jerry EstepHouston$226K
- Stephen LittleHouston$144K
- Akira NishikawaHouston$109K
- Andres MesaHouston$103K
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.