RxDoctor Payments Data

Firas Kassab, MD

Rheumatology · Charlotte, NCNPI 1366649014

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

The money is spread across several categories — speaking fees (36.2%), consulting fees and food and beverage — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Boehringer Ingelheim accounts for 77.5% of it on its own, with 41 other manufacturers making up the rest. Among rheumatology clinicians in NC with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.

$79,917in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 616 payments — averaging $129.74 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

  • Boehringer Ingelheim$62K
  • Amgen$5K
  • Johnson & Johnson$4K
  • UCB, Inc.$2K
  • AbbVie$1K
  • Novartis$801
  • plus $5K from 36 others

What the payments were for

  • Consulting fees$28,14035%
  • Speaking & faculty fees$28,89036%
  • Travel & lodging$8,75511%
  • Food & beverage$13,96217%
  • Education$1700%

General payments by program year

19
20
21
22
23
24
25

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

$79,917 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 210 rheumatology providers in North Carolina.

See all rheumatology providers in North Carolina

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024
$2,023,501
Medicare patients
337
Services billed
166,155

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

DrugClaimsCost to plans & patients
Enbrel SureclickEtanercept19$147,036
BenlystaBelimumab26$121,851
Actemra ActpenTocilizumab12$69,166
TymlosAbaloparatide12$29,921
Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate183$5,390
Mycophenolic AcidMycophenolate Sodium13$4,551
MethotrexateMethotrexate Sodium261$3,954
Alendronate Sodium43$2,480
Leflunomide71$2,396
Duloxetine Hcl17$1,177
Prednisone188$1,030
Febuxostat13$861
Mycophenolate Mofetil12$836
Allopurinol72$805
Sulfasalazine27$804

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.

CompanyPaid to this providerPart D cost of their drugs
GSKBenlysta$432$121,85126 claims
Radius Health, Inc.Tymlos$273$29,92112 claims
Scilex Pharmaceuticals Inc.Colchicine$48$72425 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 90th percentile of 210 rheumatology providers in North Carolina.

Other rheumatology in Charlotte

See the full list for North Carolina

Where these figures come from

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