Heather Gitchell
Optometrist · Louisville, CONPI 1487680120
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $6,229 of the $7,904 with a category attached, or 78.8%. 30 manufacturers reported payments, led by Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. at 26.5% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $2,356, 3.3 times the $722 reported in 2019. Among optometrist clinicians in CO with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 169 payments — averaging $46.77 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.$2K
- Alcon$2K
- AbbVie$890
- Sight Sciences, Inc.$621
- Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc.$364
- Rxsight Inc$272
- plus $2K from 24 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$1,00013%
- Travel & lodging$6588%
- Food & beverage$6,22979%
- Education$180%
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.
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.
- VYZULTA$1,342
- AIR OPTIX$763
- OMNI(R) SURGICAL SYSTEM (US)$420
- XIIDRA$365
- MIEBO$344
- DAILIES$264
- LIGHT ADJUSTABLE LENS (LAL) AND LIGHT DELIVERY DEVICE (LDD)$246
- XEN GLAUCOMA TREATMENT SYSTEM$234
- KXL System$151
- Photrexa$151
- AdaptDx$134
- DURYSTA$125
- Clareon$123
- VUITY$122
- SIMBRINZA$116
- Rocklatan$116
- Rhopressa$116
- BIOTRUE$107
- ULTRA$107
- BIOTRUE ONE DAY$107
How this compares
$7,904 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 1,025 optometrist providers in Colorado.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| VyzultaLatanoprostene Bunod | 62 | $35,546 |
| RestasisCyclosporine | 21 | $24,951 |
| RocklatanNetarsudil Mesylat/Latanoprost | 23 | $16,328 |
| LumiganBimatoprost | 23 | $11,647 |
| MieboPerfluorohexyloctane/Pf | 14 | $10,603 |
| SimbrinzaBrinzolamide/Brimonidine Tart | 14 | $7,260 |
| Brimonidine Tartrate-TimololBrimonidine Tartrate/Timolol | 13 | $2,925 |
| Prednisolone Acetate | 36 | $1,206 |
| Latanoprost | 110 | $1,193 |
| Dorzolamide-TimololDorzolamide Hcl/Timolol Maleat | 38 | $622 |
| Diclofenac Sodium | 15 | $151 |
| Brimonidine Tartrate | 16 | $146 |
| Timolol Maleate | 21 | $109 |
| Neomycin-Polymyxin-DexamethNeomycin/Polymyxin B/Dexametha | 11 | $101 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.Vyzulta, Miebo | $2,098 | $46,15076 claims |
| AbbVieRestasis, Lumigan | $890 | $36,59844 claims |
| Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Rocklatan | $45 | $16,32823 claims |
| AlconSimbrinza | $1,793 | $7,26014 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 95th percentile of 1,025 optometrist providers in Colorado.
Other optometrist in Louisville
- Cecelia KoettingAurora$458K
- Kaleb AbbottAurora$145K
- Joshua OlsonBoulder$80K
- Felicia PopowskiFt Carson$80K
- Lisa HamiltonLittleton$73K
- Kent GodfreyGreenwood Village$49K
- Jason OrtmanCastle Pines$45K
- Scott GundersonBroomfield$43K
- Scot MorrisConifer$33K
- Betty ZhangDenver$29K
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.