Benidecto Fernandez, MD
Rheumatology · Hialeah, FLNPI 1164607016
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 1,697 payments — averaging $1694.41 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Merck$1.1M
- AbbVie$818K
- GSK$487K
- Eli Lilly$281K
- Pfizer$45K
- Radius Health, Inc.$34K
- plus $101K from 30 others
Across 3 payments — averaging $53.47 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.
- Eli Lilly$160
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$16,697100%
- Education$650%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Merck | 28 | $1,109,598 |
| AbbVie | 622 | $818,065 |
| GSK | 346 | $487,408 |
| Eli Lilly | 23 | $280,927 |
| Pfizer | 48 | $44,890 |
| Radius Health, Inc. | 74 | $33,785 |
| Biogen | 2 | $33,289 |
| Regeneron | 11 | $30,778 |
| Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2 | $8,180 |
| UCB SA | 1 | $8,055 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 52 | $7,002 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 187 | $6,618 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 58 | $1,711 |
| Novartis | 69 | $1,507 |
| UCB, Inc. | 46 | $844 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 36 | $643 |
| ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 13 | $356 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 17 | $282 |
| Sanofi | 9 | $189 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 6 | $173 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 7 | $154 |
| Aurinia Pharma U.S., Inc. | 6 | $142 |
| AstraZeneca(2 entities) | 7 | $136 |
| Abbott | 1 | $122 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 5 | $98 |
| Bristol Myers Squibb | 4 | $88 |
| Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC | 3 | $84 |
| Sobi, Inc | 4 | $67 |
| Mallinckrodt Enterprises LLC | 2 | $62 |
| Sandoz | 2 | $31 |
| Tonix Medicines, Inc. | 1 | $27 |
| OPKO Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 1 | $24 |
| Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. | 1 | $24 |
| Axonics, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Medexus Pharma, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Organon | 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.
How this compares
$2,875,414 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 453 rheumatology providers in Florida.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Humira(Cf) PenAdalimumab | 182 | $1,288,972 |
| RinvoqUpadacitinib | 135 | $910,265 |
| Enbrel SureclickEtanercept | 82 | $665,610 |
| EnbrelEtanercept | 63 | $472,057 |
| Enbrel MiniEtanercept | 46 | $381,046 |
| ProliaDenosumab | 154 | $269,371 |
| Orencia ClickjectAbatacept | 39 | $224,138 |
| OrenciaAbatacept | 14 | $92,093 |
| Cyltezo(Cf) PenAdalimumab-Adbm | 12 | $79,321 |
| KevzaraSarilumab | 11 | $45,685 |
| TymlosAbaloparatide | 12 | $31,781 |
| Risedronate Sodium | 83 | $9,108 |
| Gabapentin | 338 | $7,815 |
| Mycophenolate Mofetil | 20 | $7,383 |
| RasuvoMethotrexate/Pf | 13 | $7,318 |
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.
| Company | Paid to this provider | Part D cost of their drugs |
|---|---|---|
| AbbVieRinvoq | $818,065 | $910,265135 claims |
| AmgenEnbrel, Prolia | $6,618 | $741,428217 claims |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C.Orencia | $7,002 | $92,09314 claims |
| SanofiKevzara | $189 | $45,68511 claims |
| Radius Health, Inc.Tymlos | $33,785 | $31,78112 claims |
| Medexus Pharma, Inc.Rasuvo | $18 | $7,31813 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 95th percentile of 453 rheumatology providers in Florida.
Other rheumatology in Hialeah
- Martha Hernandez IllasFort Lauderdale$25M
- Carlos SesinMiami Beach$19M
- Guillermo ValenzuelaPlantation$14.2M
- Marimer Rensoli VelazquezMiami$12.2M
- Robert LevinClearwater$11M
- Jigar ShahMargate$5.6M
- Michael BubbGainesville$3.3M
- Vipul JoshiBrandon$3.1M
- Alvin WellsDestin$2.9M
- Norman GaylisAventura$2.7M
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.