James Appel, MD
Plastic Surgery · Charlotte, NCNPI 1912170119
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (56.7%), food and beverage and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. AbbVie accounts for 88.7% of it on its own, with 11 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $6,691 and has fallen 94.5% since, to $371 in 2025.
Across 90 payments — averaging $96.08 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AbbVie$8K
- Mentor Worldwide LLC$495
- Sientra, Inc.$126
- Elutia, Inc.$125
- TELA Bio, Inc.$90
- Smith+Nephew$30
- plus $109 from 6 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$4,90057%
- Travel & lodging$1,70720%
- Food & beverage$2,04024%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 64 | $7,671 |
| Mentor Worldwide LLC | 9 | $495 |
| Sientra, Inc. | 5 | $126 |
| Elutia, Inc. | 1 | $125 |
| TELA Bio, Inc. | 4 | $90 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $30 |
| Polynovo North America LLC | 1 | $25 |
| Galderma Laboratories, L.p. | 1 | $21 |
| Sandoz | 1 | $19 |
| Ortho Dermatologics, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 1 | $17 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $15 |
| Osiris Therapeutics Inc. | 1 | $11 |
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.
- ALLODERM$4,274
- NATRELLE$2,450
- MENTOR MemoryGel Resterilizable Gel Sizer$141
- ECM Patch,Pouch$125
How this compares
$8,647 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 128 plastic surgery providers in North Carolina.
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.
Other plastic surgery in Charlotte
- Nicholas ClavinCharlotte$562K
- Theodore NyameCharlotte$364K
- James HarperCharlotte$42K
- Jack ScheuerCharlotte$36K
- David FisherCharlotte$31K
- Ashley ChandlerCharlotte$14K
- Blair WormerCharlotte$14K
- Edward TengCharlotte$13K
- Jean Francois LefaivreCharlotte$4K
- Melissa MarksCharlotte$4K
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.