Farnel Backer, MD
Hospitalist · Greenville, SCNPI 1033302575
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 31 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 18.4% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. 2025 is the largest year on record at $203, more than ten times the $15 reported in 2019.
Across 31 payments — averaging $21.69 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Inari Medical, Inc.$124
- Pfizer$123
- Vivus LLC$120
- Stryker$67
- Novartis$63
- E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C.$36
- plus $140 from 7 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$673100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Inari Medical, Inc. | 6 | $124 |
| Pfizer | 8 | $123 |
| Vivus LLC | 1 | $120 |
| Stryker | 4 | $67 |
| Novartis | 3 | $63 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 2 | $36 |
| Daiichi Sankyo Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $25 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $22 |
| Recor Medical Inc | 1 | $21 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $18 |
| Melinta Therapeutics, LLC | 1 | $15 |
| AstraZeneca | 1 | $14 |
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.
- QSYMIA$120
How this compares
$673 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 398 hospitalist providers in South Carolina.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Breo ElliptaFluticasone/Vilanterol | 12 | $4,660 |
| Lantus SolostarInsulin Glargine,hum.Rec.Anlog | 13 | $1,345 |
| Albuterol Sulfate HfaAlbuterol Sulfate | 18 | $503 |
| Pantoprazole Sodium | 18 | $180 |
| Gabapentin | 12 | $118 |
| Metoprolol Succinate | 11 | $64 |
| Losartan Potassium | 15 | $62 |
| Amlodipine Besylate | 16 | $56 |
| Levofloxacin | 20 | $53 |
| Prednisone | 26 | $47 |
| Levothyroxine Sodium | 11 | $45 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 15 | $44 |
| Carvedilol | 11 | $39 |
| Furosemide | 17 | $26 |
| Metoprolol Tartrate | 11 | $26 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other hospitalist in Greenville
- Michael WagnerGreenville$4K
- Emmanuel YirenkyiGreenville$2K
- Sargam SaksenaGreenville$935
- William JohnsonGreenville$900
- Sarah CalvertGreenville$725
- Vedang PatelGreenville$717
- Idsi Alvarez MartinezGreenville$713
- Cameron KahnGreenville$675
- Kenneth ArneyGreenville$654
- Joseph OgunsulireSeneca$28K
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.