Enrique Mendez, MD
Rheumatology · Lake Charles, LANPI 1174605646
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $24,051 of the $28,887 with a category attached, or 83.3%. It is spread thinly across 36 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 20.6% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations.
Across 1,314 payments — averaging $21.98 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$6K
- Amgen$6K
- AbbVie$4K
- Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc.$2K
- Johnson & Johnson$1K
- GSK$1K
- plus $9K from 30 others
Across 332 payments — averaging $5789.86 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.
- Eli Lilly$829K
- UCB SA$366K
- Novartis$246K
- Amgen$140K
- Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.$103K
- Argenx US, Inc.$74K
- plus $164K from 5 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$400%
- Speaking & faculty fees$2,92510%
- Travel & lodging$1,3215%
- Food & beverage$24,05183%
- Education$5502%
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.
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
$28,887 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 88 rheumatology providers in Louisiana.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ActharCorticotropin | 24 | $1,952,502 |
| CortrophinCorticotropin | 27 | $1,548,086 |
| RinvoqUpadacitinib | 78 | $509,342 |
| Enbrel SureclickEtanercept | 53 | $425,130 |
| Humira(Cf) PenAdalimumab | 33 | $352,389 |
| OfevNintedanib Esylate | 24 | $297,878 |
| Humira PenAdalimumab | 38 | $267,517 |
| Skyrizi PenRisankizumab-Rzaa | 12 | $264,576 |
| AustedoDeutetrabenazine | 11 | $161,071 |
| Orencia ClickjectAbatacept | 23 | $141,935 |
| BenlystaBelimumab | 19 | $139,002 |
| Xeljanz XrTofacitinib Citrate | 23 | $132,369 |
| KevzaraSarilumab | 14 | $112,819 |
| SaphneloAnifrolumab-Fnia | 12 | $64,737 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 2,414 | $50,131 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Companies that both paid and supply prescribed drugs
These companies both reported payments to this provider and make drugs the provider prescribed under Medicare Part D in 2024. For most specialties this overlap is expected — a cardiologist who is paid by a cardiology drugmaker also treats heart disease. It is shown so the reader can see it, not because it implies anything on its own.
| Company | Paid to this provider | Part D cost of their drugs |
|---|---|---|
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc.Acthar | $2,378 | $1,952,50224 claims |
| AbbVieRinvoq | $3,612 | $509,34278 claims |
| Boehringer IngelheimOfev | $231 | $297,87824 claims |
| Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.Austedo | $15 | $161,07111 claims |
| GSKBenlysta | $1,177 | $139,00219 claims |
| SanofiKevzara | $560 | $112,81914 claims |
| AstraZenecaSaphnelo | $1,092 | $64,73712 claims |
| Lilly USA, LLCMounjaro | $578 | $25,30124 claims |
Reading this fairly. The Part D column is what drug plans and patients paid pharmacies — this provider received none of it, and it reflects how many patients they treat and what those drugs cost. Against peers, this provider's reported payments sit in the 75th percentile of 88 rheumatology providers in Louisiana.
Other rheumatology in Lake Charles
- Gurjot BasraLake Charles$14K
- Aaron BroadwellShreveport$1.6M
- Ladislas LazaroLafayette$265K
- Jerry PoundsMetairie$252K
- Carl GauthierHammond$219K
- Malik SpadyCovington$160K
- Sean ShannonBaton Rouge$157K
- Stephen LindseyBaton Rouge$130K
- Agnes SolonAlexandria$123K
- Randall BeylBaton Rouge$112K
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.