James Leithead
Surgery · Covington, LANPI 1437473469
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 115 payments — averaging $70.56 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Flexdex Inc.$4K
- Baxter Healthcare$715
- Covidien LP$506
- Novo Nordisk$468
- Johnson & Johnson$274
- Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.$219
- plus $2K from 25 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$4,20052%
- Travel & lodging$2563%
- Food & beverage$3,65945%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Flexdex Inc. | 1 | $4,200 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 8 | $715 |
| Covidien LP | 7 | $506 |
| Novo Nordisk | 30 | $468 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 4 | $274 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 9 | $219 |
| Redhill Biopharma Inc. | 7 | $152 |
| Intra-sana Laboratories | 3 | $150 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 8 | $150 |
| Apollo Endosurgery US Inc | 1 | $137 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 3 | $128 |
| Asensus Surgical, Inc. | 2 | $121 |
| Kvk-tech, Inc. | 3 | $121 |
| Echosens North America, Inc. | 1 | $116 |
| Davol Inc. | 4 | $106 |
| Kerecis Limited | 1 | $91 |
| Medtronic | 3 | $79 |
| Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 3 | $53 |
| Currax Pharmaceuticals LLC | 3 | $49 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 2 | $39 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $36 |
| Steris Corporation | 1 | $32 |
| Shire North American Group Inc | 2 | $32 |
| Convatec Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Argon Medical Devices, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Vertex | 1 | $20 |
| Dilon Technologies, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Phathom Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| TELA Bio, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Cumberland Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Endogastric Solutions, Inc | 1 | $8 |
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.
- TISSEEL$384
- Sonicision$256
- OverStitch Endoscopic Suturing System$137
- TA$129
- FibroScan$116
- Echelon Flex$114
- Harmonic$114
How this compares
$8,114 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 381 surgery providers in Louisiana.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| OzempicSemaglutide | 96 | $113,533 |
| MounjaroTirzepatide | 64 | $71,812 |
| LinzessLinaclotide | 28 | $14,440 |
| Sucralfate | 78 | $7,860 |
| Colestipol Hcl | 14 | $2,747 |
| Pantoprazole Sodium | 271 | $1,439 |
| Ondansetron OdtOndansetron | 79 | $682 |
| Dicyclomine Hcl | 13 | $335 |
| Promethazine Hcl | 29 | $302 |
| Omeprazole | 44 | $290 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 43 | $241 |
| Topiramate | 79 | $215 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 12 | $130 |
| Esomeprazole Magnesium | 11 | $111 |
| Ondansetron Hcl | 16 | $92 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Novo NordiskOzempic | $468 | $113,53396 claims |
| Lilly USA, LLCMounjaro | $150 | $71,81264 claims |
| AbbVieLinzess | $39 | $14,44028 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 75th percentile of 381 surgery providers in Louisiana.
Other surgery in Covington
- James RedmannCovington$42K
- Ralph CorsettiCovington$29K
- Thomas LavinCovington$19K
- Jacob DaigleCovington$14K
- Matthew FrenchCovington$12K
- John TaborBaton Rouge$567K
- Ari CohenNew Orleans$406K
- Carlos GalvaniNew Orleans$352K
- Karl LeblancBaton Rouge$341K
- Douglas SlakeyNew Orleans$318K
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.