David Helton
Internal Medicine · Chattanooga, TNNPI 1235195868
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 79 payments — averaging $17.76 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Novo Nordisk$173
- AbbVie$173
- Abbott$145
- Lilly USA, LLC$140
- AstraZeneca$124
- Pfizer$78
- plus $571 from 18 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$1,403100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Novo Nordisk | 10 | $173 |
| AbbVie | 10 | $173 |
| Abbott | 7 | $145 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 8 | $140 |
| AstraZeneca | 8 | $124 |
| Pfizer | 4 | $78 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 4 | $76 |
| Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 4 | $76 |
| Amgen | 4 | $58 |
| Biogen | 2 | $43 |
| Antares Pharma, Inc. | 2 | $36 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 2 | $33 |
| Merck | 2 | $29 |
| Exact Sciences | 2 | $27 |
| Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $27 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 1 | $26 |
| GSK | 1 | $23 |
| Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $18 |
| ITI, Inc. (d/b/a Intra-cellular Therapies, Inc.) | 1 | $15 |
| Idorsia Pharmaceuticals US Inc | 1 | $14 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 1 | $14 |
| Eisai Inc. | 1 | $13 |
How this compares
$1,403 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 2,216 internal medicine providers in Tennessee.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Rosuvastatin Calcium | 43 | $1,465 |
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 94 | $1,180 |
| Pantoprazole Sodium | 30 | $743 |
| Escitalopram Oxalate | 42 | $722 |
| Omeprazole | 37 | $654 |
| Dextroamphetamine-AmphetamineDextroamphetamine/Amphetamine | 11 | $573 |
| Levothyroxine Sodium | 51 | $569 |
| Losartan Potassium | 40 | $557 |
| Amlodipine Besylate | 79 | $551 |
| Esomeprazole Magnesium | 11 | $548 |
| Gabapentin | 37 | $518 |
| Lisinopril | 46 | $378 |
| Montelukast Sodium | 14 | $322 |
| Tamsulosin Hcl | 24 | $289 |
| Metformin Hcl | 29 | $272 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other internal medicine in Chattanooga
- Mark McKenzieChattanooga$11.9M
- Charles CrumpChattanooga$1M
- Eugene RyanChattanooga$636K
- Valerie BoazChattanooga$105K
- Carlton VollbergChattanooga$105K
- Maighan SeagroveChattanooga$78K
- Jeremy HogstromChattanooga$30K
- Jermaine HogstromChattanooga$29K
- Bernard GrunstraBristol$6.4M
- Jewel WhiteKingsport$5.7M
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.