Joel Palefsky, MD
Infectious Disease · San Francisco, CANPI 1336191345
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (49.0%), travel and lodging and speaking fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Merck accounts for 79.0% of it on its own, with 6 other manufacturers making up the rest. Among infectious disease clinicians in CA 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 88 payments — averaging $776.12 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Merck$54K
- Roche Diagnostics Corporation$6K
- GSK$4K
- Theratechnologies Inc.$3K
- Ventana Medical Systems, Inc.$1K
- Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC$550
- plus $142 from 1 others
Across 13 payments — averaging $18,136 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.
- Roche Molecular Systems, Inc.$150K
- Merck$74K
- Bausch Health US, LLC$11K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$33,43849%
- Speaking & faculty fees$13,33020%
- Grants$5501%
- Travel & lodging$19,17728%
- Food & beverage$1,8043%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Merck | 63 | $53,973 |
| Roche Diagnostics Corporation | 10 | $5,905 |
| GSK | 1 | $3,783 |
| Theratechnologies Inc. | 1 | $2,500 |
| Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. | 11 | $1,445 |
| Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC | 1 | $550 |
| Abbott | 1 | $142 |
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.
- GARDASIL 9$10,459
- CINtec PLUS Cytology$5,838
- Alinity m$142
- GARDASIL$129
How this compares
$68,299 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 856 infectious disease providers in California.
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 infectious disease in San Francisco
- Shawn HasslerSan Francisco$433K
- Abhijit LimayeSan Francisco$152K
- Monica GandhiSan Francisco$60K
- Claire PomeroySacramento$2.6M
- Javeed SiddiquiRoseville$1.5M
- George SakoulasSan Diego$902K
- Arthur JengSylmar$766K
- James McKinnellTorrance$762K
- Jay GladsteinLos Angeles$657K
- Tulika SinghOrange$654K
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.