Eric Velazquez, MD
Cardiovascular Disease · New Haven, CTNPI 1255415121
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $37,647 of the $56,799 with a category attached, or 66.3%. 6 manufacturers reported payments, led by Novartis at 52.3% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $27,369 and has fallen 54.5% since, to $12,450 in 2024. Among cardiovascular disease clinicians in CT with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 23 payments — averaging $2469.52 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Novartis$30K
- Intuitive Surgical$19K
- Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc.$4K
- Amgen$4K
- Impulse Dynamics (USA) Inc.$80
- Pfizer$12
Across 1 payment — averaging $3200.00 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.
- Pfizer$3K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$37,64766%
- Food & beverage$6521%
- Education$18,50033%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Novartis | 8 | $29,733 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 10 | $18,979 |
| Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. | 1 | $4,425 |
| Amgen | 2 | $3,570 |
| Impulse Dynamics (USA) Inc. | 1 | $80 |
| Pfizer | 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.
- ENTRESTO$26,880
- Da Vinci Surgical System$17,950
- DAVINCI XI$1,000
How this compares
$56,799 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 415 cardiovascular disease providers in Connecticut.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Losartan Potassium | 11 | $76 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other cardiovascular disease in New Haven
- Nihar DesaiNew Haven$1.4M
- Jeffery TestaniNew Haven$546K
- Carlos Mena-HurtadoNew Haven$460K
- John ForrestNew Haven$164K
- Henry WardNew Haven$152K
- Cesia Maria Gallegos KattanNew Haven$101K
- Khurram NasirNew Haven$100K
- Tariq AhmadNew Haven$75K
- Joseph AkarNew Haven$74K
- Hyung ChunNew Haven$67K
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.