Charles Bluhm
Gastroenterology · Birmingham, ALNPI 1306822705
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 99.5% of the total across 420 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. 25 manufacturers reported payments, led by AbbVie at 27.1% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $2,493 and has fallen 99.5% since, to $13 in 2023.
Across 420 payments — averaging $17.81 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AbbVie$2K
- Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC$1K
- Pfizer$1K
- Johnson & Johnson$686
- Gilead$492
- Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.$340
- plus $1K from 19 others
Across 3 payments — averaging $7783.33 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.
- Covidien LP$23K
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$7,446100%
- Education$350%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 89 | $2,031 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 102 | $1,455 |
| Pfizer | 57 | $1,154 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 57 | $686 |
| Gilead | 27 | $492 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 24 | $340 |
| Redhill Biopharma Inc. | 6 | $205 |
| Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 13 | $195 |
| Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC | 1 | $149 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 1 | $110 |
| Nestle Healthcare Nutrition Inc. | 7 | $100 |
| Bristol Myers Squibb | 6 | $89 |
| QOL Medical, LLC | 4 | $87 |
| Evoke Pharma, Inc. | 4 | $67 |
| Amgen | 4 | $56 |
| Merck | 3 | $43 |
| Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc | 3 | $42 |
| UCB, Inc. | 3 | $40 |
| Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 2 | $39 |
| Boston Scientific | 2 | $24 |
| Ardelyx, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $14 |
| Daiichi Sankyo Inc. | 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
$7,481 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 225 gastroenterology providers in Alabama.
Other gastroenterology in Birmingham
- Robert ShafferBirmingham$1M
- Mukul MehraBirmingham$193K
- Meagan GrayBirmingham$113K
- David SteeleBirmingham$47K
- Kirk RussBirmingham$38K
- Kenneth SigmanBirmingham$34K
- Shajan PeterBirmingham$31K
- Ali AhmedBirmingham$27K
- Swaroop VittaBirmingham$15K
- Rajat ParikhBirmingham$14K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.