Charles Amelemah, MD
Internal Medicine · Houston, TXNPI 1356788178
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 227 payments — averaging $20.44 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AstraZeneca$1K
- GSK$905
- AbbVie$643
- Optinose US, Inc.$445
- Lilly USA, LLC$407
- Novo Nordisk$325
- plus $908 from 18 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$4,640100%
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 | 41 | $1,007 |
| GSK | 46 | $905 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 35 | $643 |
| Optinose US, Inc. | 21 | $445 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 23 | $407 |
| Novo Nordisk | 17 | $325 |
| Bayer | 8 | $181 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 3 | $154 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 8 | $127 |
| Novartis | 3 | $59 |
| ITI, Inc. (d/b/a Intra-cellular Therapies, Inc.) | 3 | $59 |
| Abbott | 2 | $48 |
| Tolmar, Inc. | 3 | $46 |
| Pfizer | 2 | $41 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 2 | $33 |
| Hologic Sales And Service, LLC | 1 | $28 |
| Grifols USA, LLC | 2 | $25 |
| Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd. | 1 | $22 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $18 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 1 | $17 |
| Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc | 1 | $16 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 1 | $12 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 1 | $11 |
| Merck | 1 | $11 |
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
$4,640 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 7,675 internal medicine 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 |
|---|---|---|
| OzempicSemaglutide | 47 | $67,682 |
| FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol | 34 | $38,062 |
| MounjaroTirzepatide | 19 | $37,718 |
| Trelegy ElliptaFluticasone/Umeclidin/Vilanter | 28 | $31,092 |
| EliquisApixaban | 23 | $29,137 |
| JardianceEmpagliflozin | 13 | $18,454 |
| XhanceFluticasone Propionate | 18 | $11,889 |
| Humulin R U-500 KwikpenInsulin Regular, Human | 13 | $7,834 |
| Lantus SolostarInsulin Glargine,hum.Rec.Anlog | 14 | $2,338 |
| Nifedipine ErNifedipine | 41 | $1,893 |
| Gabapentin | 87 | $1,468 |
| Fluticasone Propionate | 46 | $1,231 |
| Albuterol Sulfate HfaAlbuterol Sulfate | 49 | $1,018 |
| Quetiapine Fumarate | 27 | $994 |
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 133 | $954 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Novo NordiskOzempic | $325 | $67,68247 claims |
| AstraZenecaFarxiga | $1,007 | $38,06234 claims |
| Lilly USA, LLCMounjaro | $407 | $37,71819 claims |
| GSKTrelegy Ellipta | $905 | $31,09228 claims |
| PfizerEliquis | $41 | $29,13723 claims |
| Boehringer IngelheimJardiance | $33 | $18,45413 claims |
| Optinose US, Inc.Xhance | $445 | $11,88918 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 85th percentile of 7,675 internal medicine providers in Texas.
Other internal medicine in Houston
- Jan BurgerHouston$47.3M
- Nitin JainHouston$33.2M
- Aung NaingHouston$30.6M
- Preetesh JainHouston$19.5M
- Paolo StratiHouston$19.2M
- Nicholas ShortHouston$17.6M
- Isabella GlitzaHouston$14.8M
- Murtaza MussajiHouston$13.1M
- Hussein TawbiHouston$12.6M
- Hans LeeHouston$11.7M
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.