Herbert Meltzer
Pain Medicine · Nashville, TNNPI 1538268966
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — speaking fees (56.7%), consulting fees and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd. accounts for 61.3% of it on its own, with 6 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $26,847 and has fallen 99.0% since, to $273 in 2023. Among pain medicine clinicians in TN 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 38 payments — averaging $1131.18 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd.$26K
- Johnson & Johnson$11K
- Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.$4K
- AbbVie$2K
- Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc.$516
- Biogen$153
- plus $120 from 1 others
Across 64 payments — averaging $14,544 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- AbbVie$562K
- Janssen Research & Development, LLC$221K
- Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.$104K
- H. Lundbeck A S$27K
- Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.$17K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$12,19928%
- Speaking & faculty fees$24,36457%
- Travel & lodging$5,35712%
- Food & beverage$1,0652%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd. | 20 | $26,357 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 9 | $10,531 |
| Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. | 2 | $3,698 |
| AbbVie | 4 | $1,610 |
| Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $516 |
| Biogen | 1 | $153 |
| Sage Therapeutics, LLC | 1 | $120 |
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
$42,985 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 112 pain medicine providers in Tennessee.
Other pain medicine in Nashville
- Shravani DurbhakulaNashville$353K
- Marc HuntoonNashville$37K
- Puneet MishraNashville$32K
- Jeremy WalkerNashville$25K
- Damita BryantNashville$18K
- Tigran KesayanNashville$13K
- Alex SchmidtNashville$10K
- Christopher SobeyNashville$10K
- Victor IsaacNashville$7K
- Barbara SchooleyNashville$6K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.