Joel Cotton, MD
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 74 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. 24 manufacturers reported payments, led by AbbVie at 30.5% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $742, 5.5 times the $135 reported in 2021.
Across 74 payments — averaging $24.02 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AbbVie$542
- Boston Scientific$211
- Argenx US, Inc.$131
- Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.$109
- Bristol Myers Squibb$85
- Genentech USA, Inc.$83
- plus $618 from 18 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$1,778100%
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 | 22 | $542 |
| Boston Scientific | 7 | $211 |
| Argenx US, Inc. | 5 | $131 |
| Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 3 | $109 |
| Bristol Myers Squibb | 4 | $85 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 3 | $83 |
| Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. | 4 | $79 |
| SK Life Science, Inc. | 3 | $68 |
| Lundbeck LLC | 2 | $53 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 3 | $51 |
| UCB, Inc. | 2 | $45 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $41 |
| EMD Serono, Inc. | 2 | $39 |
| Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC | 2 | $39 |
| TG Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $30 |
| Kyowa Kirin, Inc. | 1 | $24 |
| Abbott | 1 | $24 |
| CSL Behring | 1 | $23 |
| MDD US Operations, LLC | 1 | $22 |
| GSK | 1 | $17 |
| Eisai Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Tanabe Pharma America, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Avion Pharmaceuticals | 1 | $15 |
| Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
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
$1,778 in reported general payments places this provider in the 55th percentile of 105 neurology providers in Nebraska.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| TegretolCarbamazepine | 27 | $9,678 |
| Levetiracetam | 285 | $5,665 |
| Carbidopa-LevodopaCarbidopa/Levodopa | 250 | $3,253 |
| Carbamazepine ErCarbamazepine | 30 | $2,525 |
| Carbamazepine | 66 | $2,162 |
| Oxcarbazepine | 32 | $1,799 |
| Divalproex Sodium | 17 | $1,070 |
| Nortriptyline Hcl | 64 | $967 |
| Lacosamide | 32 | $684 |
| Primidone | 28 | $479 |
| Phenytoin Sodium Extended | 20 | $377 |
| Topiramate | 30 | $355 |
| Gabapentin | 11 | $254 |
| Phenobarbital | 11 | $122 |
| ClopidogrelClopidogrel Bisulfate | 11 | $20 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other neurology in Omaha
- Chad WhyteOmaha$647K
- Scott GoodmanOmaha$377K
- Rana ZabadOmaha$276K
- Deepak MadhavanOmaha$189K
- Pamela SantamariaOmaha$90K
- Peter SohOmaha$60K
- Kiel WoodwardOmaha$32K
- Pierre FayadOmaha$24K
- Jonathan MoravekOmaha$19K
- Erin SmithOmaha$13K
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.