Emily Merkel, MD
MOHS-Micrographic Surgery · Nashville, TNNPI 1497286033
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 99.4% of the total across 81 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. 15 manufacturers reported payments, led by AbbVie at 28.5% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $817 and has fallen 51.3% since, to $398 in 2025. That places this record below the midpoint for mohs-micrographic surgery clinicians in TN, where the typical reported total is $4,344.
Across 81 payments — averaging $29.11 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AbbVie$671
- Johnson & Johnson$281
- Pfizer$277
- Sanofi$248
- UCB, Inc.$147
- Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc.$121
- plus $612 from 9 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$2,34299%
- Education$151%
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) | 20 | $671 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 13 | $281 |
| Pfizer | 8 | $277 |
| Sanofi | 9 | $248 |
| UCB, Inc. | 5 | $147 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 5 | $121 |
| Abeona Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $120 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 4 | $93 |
| Incyte Corporation | 3 | $83 |
| Novartis | 3 | $76 |
| Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. | 4 | $72 |
| LEO Pharma Inc. | 2 | $69 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 2 | $49 |
| Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation Inc. | 1 | $28 |
| Ortho Dermatologics, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 1 | $23 |
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
$2,358 in reported general payments places this provider in the 40th percentile of 40 mohs-micrographic surgery 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dupixent PenDupilumab | 14 | $55,697 |
| Clobetasol Propionate | 12 | $715 |
| Ketoconazole | 35 | $667 |
| Triamcinolone Acetonide | 23 | $262 |
| Doxycycline Monohydrate | 16 | $229 |
| Mupirocin | 35 | $205 |
| Doxycycline Hyclate | 21 | $168 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other mohs-micrographic surgery in Nashville
- Brent MoodyNashville$1M
- Vineet MishraNashville$44K
- Michael PelsterNashville$10K
- Brent PenningtonNashville$7K
- Jerry SmithNashville$4K
- Rachel HowaldNashville$2K
- Natalie CurcioNashville$2K
- Allison HanlonNashville$203
- Anna ClaytonNashville$99
- Eric MillicanNashville$33
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.