Brian First, MD
Internal Medicine · San Diego, CANPI 1770531816
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 789 payments — averaging $71.29 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Bayer$21K
- AbbVie$20K
- Boehringer Ingelheim$2K
- Amgen$2K
- Novo Nordisk$998
- Lilly USA, LLC$797
- plus $9K from 54 others
Across 1 payment — averaging $2865.52 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$3K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$230%
- Food & beverage$14,68199%
- Education$1101%
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.
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.
- CeQur Simplicity$138
- Leqembi$101
How this compares
$56,248 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 13,581 internal medicine providers in California.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| OzempicSemaglutide | 188 | $202,083 |
| JardianceEmpagliflozin | 143 | $133,750 |
| EliquisApixaban | 92 | $98,980 |
| ProliaDenosumab | 50 | $85,370 |
| TradjentaLinagliptin | 85 | $80,895 |
| CopaxoneGlatiramer Acetate | 12 | $65,846 |
| NuplazidPimavanserin Tartrate | 12 | $58,330 |
| TrulicityDulaglutide | 50 | $53,514 |
| JanuviaSitagliptin Phosphate | 38 | $47,404 |
| FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol | 54 | $46,020 |
| XareltoRivaroxaban | 49 | $40,819 |
| MounjaroTirzepatide | 27 | $36,146 |
| Basaglar Kwikpen U-100Insulin Glargine,hum.Rec.Anlog | 46 | $26,878 |
| Trelegy ElliptaFluticasone/Umeclidin/Vilanter | 31 | $26,659 |
| Repatha SureclickEvolocumab | 30 | $26,355 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Boehringer IngelheimJardiance, Tradjenta, Synjardy | $1,972 | $229,294246 claims |
| Novo NordiskOzempic, Rybelsus | $998 | $225,912206 claims |
| PfizerEliquis, Genotropin | $247 | $118,433103 claims |
| Lilly USA, LLCTrulicity, Mounjaro, Humalog | $797 | $100,580123 claims |
| AmgenProlia | $1,669 | $85,37050 claims |
| Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.Copaxone | $32 | $65,84612 claims |
| AstraZenecaFarxiga, Symbicort | $785 | $52,15075 claims |
| Johnson & JohnsonXarelto | $537 | $40,81949 claims |
| GSKTrelegy Ellipta | $757 | $26,65931 claims |
| AbbVieLinzess, Synthroid | $20,369 | $12,16776 claims |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLCLantus, Admelog | $429 | $6,12332 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 13,581 internal medicine providers in California.
Other internal medicine in San Diego
- Donald BrandonSan Diego$34M
- Elaine WatkinsSan Diego$11.3M
- James ChenSan Diego$2.9M
- Rita StarrittSan Diego$2.6M
- Hatim HusainSan Diego$2.6M
- Gary FiresteinSan Diego$2.6M
- Andrew ChengSouth San Francisco$55.1M
- Joel NeutelTustin$34.9M
- William TownerLos Angeles$27.4M
- Rahul AggarwalSan Francisco$24M
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.