Esther Echevarria, MD
General Practice · Caguas, PRNPI 1225134745
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by travel and lodging: $694 of the $844 with a category attached, or 82.2%. Novartis accounts for 95.3% of it on its own, with 2 other manufacturers making up the rest.
Across 6 payments — averaging $140.70 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Novartis$805
- Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.$23
- Johnson & Johnson$16
Across 42 payments — averaging $11,400 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.
- Janssen Research & Development, LLC$310K
- Novartis$69K
- Merck$68K
- Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.$29K
- Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc.$2K
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$69482%
- Food & beverage$15118%
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 | 4 | $805 |
| Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $16 |
How this compares
$844 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 3,586 general practice providers in Puerto Rico.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 11 | $98 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other general practice in Caguas
- Wilfredo CuevasSan Lorenzo$530K
- Julio BacoMayaguez$268K
- Soria Diaz BaezPonce$192K
- Carlos RomanCanovanas$140K
- William E TorresSan Juan$86K
- Rafael Mendoza RodriguezPonce$77K
- Frank Perez NogueiraSan German$70K
- Vivian Tamayo AgraitSan Juan$64K
- William Soto AvilesToa Baja$63K
- Jessica RosarioSanturce$41K
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.