James Early
Family Medicine · Black Mountain, NCNPI 1346280807
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 95.4% of the total across 114 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 26 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 12.5% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $732 and has fallen 97.8% since, to $16 in 2022.
Across 114 payments — averaging $17.69 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AbbVie$253
- Novartis$216
- Pfizer$195
- Lilly USA, LLC$143
- Galderma Laboratories, L.p.$127
- Astellas Pharma US Inc$120
- plus $962 from 20 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$1,92495%
- Education$925%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 15 | $253 |
| Novartis | 15 | $216 |
| Pfizer | 13 | $195 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 9 | $143 |
| Galderma Laboratories, L.p. | 1 | $127 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 3 | $120 |
| Amgen | 7 | $115 |
| Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2 | $115 |
| AstraZeneca | 7 | $103 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 8 | $86 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 4 | $70 |
| Novo Nordisk | 4 | $60 |
| Eisai Inc. | 4 | $56 |
| Merck | 3 | $52 |
| Daiichi Sankyo Inc. | 3 | $50 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 3 | $46 |
| Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 2 | $46 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 2 | $26 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 2 | $25 |
| Mylan Specialty L.p. | 1 | $19 |
| Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Dexcom, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Abbott | 1 | $16 |
| Therapeuticsmd, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $14 |
How this compares
$2,017 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 3,444 family medicine providers in North Carolina.
Other family medicine in Black Mountain
- William CromwellRaleigh$879K
- Steve VacalisGastonia$693K
- David DundeeWinston Salem$633K
- Kevin SodenCharlotte$558K
- Brian ForrestApex$398K
- Joseph KonenCharlotte$322K
- Richard RachimaCharlotte$294K
- Dimitrios HondrosCharlotte$275K
- Domingo Rodriguez-CueGarner$253K
- Christopher ChaoCary$201K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.