Claus Fichte, MD
Ophthalmology · Amherst, NYNPI 1689679730
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $764 of the $1,264 with a category attached, or 60.5%. 9 manufacturers reported payments, led by Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. at 39.5% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $640 and has fallen 97.6% since, to $15 in 2024. That places this record below the midpoint for ophthalmology clinicians in NY, where the typical reported total is $1,047.
Across 30 payments — averaging $42.15 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc.$500
- AbbVie$473
- Ivantis, Inc$83
- Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.$64
- Novartis$48
- Sight Sciences, Inc.$39
- plus $57 from 3 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$50040%
- Food & beverage$76460%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. | 1 | $500 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 18 | $473 |
| Ivantis, Inc | 1 | $83 |
| Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. | 3 | $64 |
| Novartis | 3 | $48 |
| Sight Sciences, Inc. | 1 | $39 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 1 | $25 |
| Biotissue Holdings Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision, Inc. | 1 | $12 |
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
$1,264 in reported general payments places this provider in the 50th percentile of 1,587 ophthalmology providers in New York.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Timolol Maleate | 15 | $2,134 |
| Latanoprost | 29 | $575 |
| Ketorolac Tromethamine | 18 | $373 |
| Neomycin-Polymyxin-DexamethNeomycin/Polymyxin B/Dexametha | 20 | $231 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other ophthalmology in Amherst
- Michael EndlAmherst$152K
- David RubaltelliBrooklyn$8.9M
- Nathan RadcliffeNew York$2.1M
- Richard SpaideNew York$1.7M
- Eric DonnenfeldGarden City$1.4M
- Marguerite McDonaldOceanside$893K
- Joshua YoungNew York$814K
- David KleinmanRochester$730K
- Jonathan JonischGreat Neck$726K
- Joseph PanarelliNew York$541K
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.