Ghayyath Sultan, MD
Nephrology · Houston, TXNPI 1780913996
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 170 payments — averaging $27.29 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AstraZeneca$993
- Vifor Pharma, Inc.$590
- Travere Therapeutics, Inc.$429
- Amgen$331
- Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.$258
- OPKO Pharmaceuticals, LLC$255
- plus $2K from 21 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$4,54598%
- Education$952%
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) | 26 | $993 |
| Vifor Pharma, Inc. | 51 | $590 |
| Travere Therapeutics, Inc. | 5 | $429 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 12 | $331 |
| Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 7 | $258 |
| OPKO Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 13 | $255 |
| Bayer | 7 | $233 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 9 | $218 |
| Medtronic | 2 | $214 |
| Aurinia Pharma U.S., Inc. | 6 | $196 |
| Calliditas Therapeutics US Inc. | 3 | $169 |
| Fresenius USA Marketing, Inc. | 6 | $125 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $117 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 5 | $114 |
| Akebia Therapeutics Inc | 4 | $92 |
| GSK | 2 | $53 |
| Mallinckrodt Enterprises LLC | 1 | $31 |
| Novartis | 1 | $31 |
| Ardelyx, Inc. | 1 | $30 |
| Recor Medical Inc | 1 | $28 |
| Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $24 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 1 | $23 |
| Scpharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Shire North American Group Inc | 1 | $17 |
| Shield Therapeutics Inc | 1 | $14 |
| Tactile Systems Technology 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.
- FARXIGA$343
- Filspari$250
- ELLIPSYS VASCULAR ACCESS SYSTEM$214
- Tavneos$125
- LOKELMA$125
- TARPEYO$124
- Kerendia$118
- Renal - PD$117
- JYNARQUE$112
How this compares
$4,640 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 1,070 nephrology providers in Texas.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| RayaldeeCalcifediol | 89 | $119,877 |
| Sevelamer Carbonate | 46 | $13,533 |
| Calcitriol | 292 | $7,837 |
| EliquisApixaban | 15 | $7,178 |
| Nifedipine ErNifedipine | 96 | $3,590 |
| Calcium Acetate | 33 | $2,828 |
| Potassium Chloride | 111 | $2,381 |
| Torsemide | 61 | $2,258 |
| Furosemide | 225 | $1,881 |
| Metolazone | 38 | $1,681 |
| Potassium Citrate ErPotassium Citrate | 13 | $1,209 |
| Hydralazine Hcl | 43 | $956 |
| Lisinopril | 81 | $780 |
| Valsartan | 18 | $564 |
| Carvedilol | 35 | $446 |
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.
| Company | Paid to this provider | Part D cost of their drugs |
|---|---|---|
| OPKO Pharmaceuticals, LLCRayaldee | $255 | $119,87789 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 70th percentile of 1,070 nephrology providers in Texas.
Other nephrology in Houston
- Sreedhar MandayamHouston$7M
- Marializa BernardoHouston$4.2M
- Stephen FademHouston$2.4M
- Biruh WorkenehHouston$1.8M
- Rahul PandeyHouston$1.6M
- Christopher KwohHouston$928K
- George NassarHouston$772K
- June YaoHouston$651K
- Maher BisharaHouston$489K
- Wolfgang WinkelmayerHouston$462K
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.