Avnit Ahuja, MD
Rheumatology · Richmond, VANPI 1962616474
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 96.0% of the total across 574 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 35 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 20.7% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. 2025 is the largest year on record at $3,181, 4.1 times the $781 reported in 2019.
Across 574 payments — averaging $20.29 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Amgen$2K
- AbbVie$1K
- UCB, Inc.$1K
- Novartis$1K
- Johnson & Johnson$984
- Pfizer$869
- plus $4K from 29 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$11,18496%
- Education$4634%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Amgen(2 entities) | 118 | $2,410 |
| AbbVie | 86 | $1,220 |
| UCB, Inc. | 48 | $1,132 |
| Novartis | 47 | $1,103 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 35 | $984 |
| Pfizer | 53 | $869 |
| AstraZeneca(2 entities) | 28 | $551 |
| GSK | 30 | $418 |
| Radius Health, Inc. | 16 | $400 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 13 | $369 |
| ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 16 | $363 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 13 | $292 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 8 | $182 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 9 | $164 |
| Kyowa Kirin, Inc. | 7 | $142 |
| Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. | 2 | $139 |
| Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC | 8 | $135 |
| Sanofi | 4 | $91 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 3 | $90 |
| Sobi, Inc | 3 | $87 |
| Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, PLC | 4 | $79 |
| Aurinia Pharma U.S., Inc. | 4 | $73 |
| Organon | 4 | $59 |
| Tersera Therapeutics LLC | 2 | $45 |
| Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. | 2 | $44 |
| Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc. | 2 | $35 |
| Tonix Medicines, Inc. | 1 | $25 |
| Bristol Myers Squibb | 1 | $23 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Fidia Pharma USA Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Invivyd Inc | 1 | $21 |
| Mylan Institutional Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Pharming Healthcare, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Merck | 1 | $14 |
| Arbor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
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.
- TALTZ$113
How this compares
$11,647 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 159 rheumatology providers in Virginia.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate | 217 | $7,139 |
| MethotrexateMethotrexate Sodium | 179 | $3,588 |
| Leflunomide | 67 | $3,231 |
| Duloxetine Hcl | 154 | $1,947 |
| Prednisone | 285 | $1,916 |
| Mycophenolate Mofetil | 24 | $1,327 |
| Pilocarpine Hcl | 13 | $1,259 |
| Azathioprine | 21 | $667 |
| Methylprednisolone | 63 | $488 |
| Sulfasalazine DrSulfasalazine | 19 | $486 |
| Gabapentin | 89 | $477 |
| Alendronate Sodium | 59 | $428 |
| Famotidine | 50 | $348 |
| Pregabalin | 20 | $307 |
| Folic Acid | 29 | $281 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other rheumatology in Richmond
- Michael StrachanRichmond$158K
- Karim MasriRichmond$147K
- Tammy SpringRichmond$17K
- Mihail MoroianuRichmond$13K
- Bhakti JoshiRichmond$12K
- Peter CoutlakisRichmond$12K
- Steven MaestrelloRichmond$9K
- Peter LipskyCharlottesville$1.3M
- Kristi MizelleNewport News$1.1M
- Phillip KempfArlington$321K
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.