Francisco Cruz
Nephrology · New Orleans, LANPI 1538167879
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 90 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 24 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 18.8% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $536 and has fallen 67.3% since, to $175 in 2025. That places this record below the midpoint for nephrology clinicians in LA, where the typical reported total is $1,900.
Across 90 payments — averaging $19.82 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AstraZeneca$335
- Vifor Pharma, Inc.$276
- Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc.$236
- Esperion Therapeutics, Inc.$125
- Amgen$109
- OPKO Pharmaceuticals, LLC$90
- plus $613 from 18 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$1,784100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AstraZeneca(2 entities) | 19 | $335 |
| Vifor Pharma, Inc. | 16 | $276 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 8 | $236 |
| Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $125 |
| Amgen | 6 | $109 |
| OPKO Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 6 | $90 |
| Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 4 | $76 |
| Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 4 | $74 |
| Akebia Therapeutics Inc | 4 | $71 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 5 | $68 |
| Novartis | 2 | $53 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 2 | $37 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 2 | $35 |
| Mallinckrodt Enterprises LLC | 1 | $33 |
| Recordati_rare_diseases_inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Novo Nordisk | 1 | $21 |
| Travere Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 1 | $16 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Daiichi Sankyo Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Currax Pharmaceuticals LLC | 1 | $14 |
| Sanofi | 1 | $14 |
| Merck | 1 | $13 |
| UCB, Inc. | 1 | $13 |
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
$1,784 in reported general payments places this provider in the 45th percentile of 206 nephrology providers in Louisiana.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Metformin Hcl | 11 | $35 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other nephrology in New Orleans
- Juan Carlos VelezNew Orleans$282K
- Michael TouchyNew Orleans$56K
- Juan MedauraNew Orleans$14K
- Farshid YazdiNew Orleans$14K
- Mihran NaljayanNew Orleans$10K
- Rhea BhargavaNew Orleans$9K
- April FoxNew Orleans$8K
- Myra KleinpeterNew Orleans$7K
- Joshua LowentrittNew Orleans$7K
- Angela ReginelliNew Orleans$6K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.