Erich Ernspiker, MD
Surgery · Norton, VANPI 1821285727
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 22 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. It is spread thinly across 13 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 17.1% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $221 and has fallen 76.3% since, to $52 in 2023. That places this record below the midpoint for surgery clinicians in VA, where the typical reported total is $1,056.
Across 22 payments — averaging $17.47 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AbbVie$66
- Merck$61
- Medtronic$55
- Conmed Corporation$39
- Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc.$28
- TELA Bio, Inc.$27
- plus $108 from 7 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$384100%
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.
How this compares
$384 in reported general payments places this provider in the 35th percentile of 675 surgery providers in Virginia.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Omeprazole | 32 | $221 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 12 | $108 |
| Metoclopramide Hcl | 15 | $77 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in Norton
- Raymond MakhoulRichmond$1.5M
- Zobair YounossiFalls Church$1.2M
- Yassar YoussefNorfolk$1M
- David WeintrittAlexandria$555K
- Hazem ElarinyVienna$368K
- George GillianLorton$214K
- Joseph GreeneReston$187K
- Lamiere DowningChristiansburg$175K
- Amanda CoxSalem$142K
- Christopher NorthupCharlottesville$117K
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.