Douglas Covert, MD
Retina Specialist · Traverse City, MINPI 1194897017
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 99.7% of the total across 85 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. Alimera Sciences, Inc. accounts for 69.4% of it on its own, with 11 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $2,288 and has fallen 70.3% since, to $679 in 2025.
Across 85 payments — averaging $65.69 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Alimera Sciences, Inc.$4K
- Genentech USA, Inc.$448
- Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc.$415
- AbbVie$253
- Novartis$186
- ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$142
- plus $263 from 6 others
Across 1 payment — averaging $4500.00 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.
- AstraZeneca$5K
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$5,567100%
- Education$160%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alimera Sciences, Inc. | 18 | $3,876 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 17 | $448 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 15 | $415 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 13 | $253 |
| Novartis | 5 | $186 |
| ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 5 | $142 |
| Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 3 | $72 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 3 | $69 |
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. | 2 | $44 |
| Eyepoint US, Inc. | 2 | $33 |
| Biogen | 1 | $23 |
| Amgen | 1 | $22 |
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
$5,583 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 52 retina specialist providers in Michigan.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Prednisolone Acetate | 133 | $6,297 |
| Ketorolac Tromethamine | 126 | $3,916 |
| Difluprednate | 46 | $3,732 |
| Bromfenac Sodium | 11 | $1,709 |
| Atropine Sulfate | 20 | $711 |
| Timolol Maleate | 45 | $451 |
| Gentamicin Sulfate | 58 | $411 |
| Brimonidine Tartrate | 34 | $323 |
| Dorzolamide-TimololDorzolamide Hcl/Timolol Maleat | 11 | $225 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other retina specialist in Traverse City
- Nathan FarleyTraverse City$12K
- Scott SneedTraverse City$4K
- Diane FianderTraverse City$3K
- Kean OhTraverse City$1K
- Jeremy WolfeRoyal Oak$809K
- Lisa FaiaRoyal Oak$520K
- Tarek HassanRoyal Oak$460K
- Asheesh TewariDearborn$204K
- Sandeep RandhawaRoyal Oak$94K
- Kimberly DrenserRoyal Oak$79K
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.