Bushra Akram, MD
Rheumatology · Oklahoma City, OKNPI 1962998781
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 106 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 21 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 22.6% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. 2025 is the largest year on record at $1,364, 6.3 times the $217 reported in 2021. That places this record below the midpoint for rheumatology clinicians in OK, where the typical reported total is $4,359.
Across 106 payments — averaging $23.23 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AstraZeneca$557
- Amgen$490
- AbbVie$389
- UCB, Inc.$172
- GSK$145
- Novartis$123
- plus $586 from 15 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$2,462100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AstraZeneca | 14 | $557 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 21 | $490 |
| AbbVie | 22 | $389 |
| UCB, Inc. | 9 | $172 |
| GSK | 8 | $145 |
| Novartis | 5 | $123 |
| Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC | 5 | $108 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 4 | $95 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 2 | $46 |
| Dexcom, Inc. | 2 | $46 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $38 |
| Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. | 1 | $37 |
| Madrigal Pharmaceuticals | 1 | $36 |
| Novo Nordisk | 2 | $31 |
| Pfizer | 2 | $30 |
| Sandoz | 1 | $29 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $23 |
| ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Aurinia Pharma U.S., Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| BETA Bionics, 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.
How this compares
$2,462 in reported general payments places this provider in the 40th percentile of 67 rheumatology providers in Oklahoma.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Enbrel SureclickEtanercept | 23 | $170,116 |
| Orencia ClickjectAbatacept | 25 | $148,825 |
| Humira(Cf) PenAdalimumab | 20 | $140,749 |
| KevzaraSarilumab | 11 | $44,496 |
| Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate | 132 | $6,394 |
| MethotrexateMethotrexate Sodium | 126 | $3,017 |
| Leflunomide | 61 | $2,312 |
| Celecoxib | 71 | $1,925 |
| Pilocarpine Hcl | 37 | $1,758 |
| Mycophenolate Mofetil | 18 | $1,718 |
| Colchicine | 15 | $1,196 |
| Gabapentin | 77 | $863 |
| Prednisone | 156 | $691 |
| Etodolac | 16 | $634 |
| Sulfasalazine | 21 | $580 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other rheumatology in Oklahoma City
- Joan MerrillOklahoma City$864K
- Latisha HeinlenOklahoma City$675K
- Mohammad KhanOklahoma City$94K
- Cristina ArriensOklahoma City$82K
- John GoetzingerOklahoma City$18K
- Robert ArthurOklahoma City$16K
- Muhammad GillanOklahoma City$16K
- William SchnitzOklahoma City$15K
- Judith JamesOklahoma City$15K
- Amanda TitusOklahoma City$13K
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.