John Assell, OD
Optometrist · Denver, NCNPI 1275508152
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (45.0%), travel and lodging and speaking fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Alcon accounts for 63.9% of it on its own, with 10 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $2,849 and has fallen 93.9% since, to $172 in 2025.
Across 56 payments — averaging $67.31 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Alcon$2K
- Coopervision Inc.$990
- Optos, Inc.$106
- Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.$66
- Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.$61
- Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC$37
- plus $99 from 5 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$64617%
- Travel & lodging$1,32235%
- Food & beverage$1,69645%
- Entertainment$1063%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alcon | 24 | $2,410 |
| Coopervision Inc. | 19 | $990 |
| Optos, Inc. | 1 | $106 |
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. | 3 | $66 |
| Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. | 2 | $61 |
| Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 2 | $37 |
| Dompe US, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Notal Vision, Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Novartis | 1 | $21 |
| Biotissue Holdings Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Oyster Point Pharma, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
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
$3,769 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 1,326 optometrist 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.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Latanoprost | 76 | $945 |
| Fluorometholone | 15 | $814 |
| Neomycin-Polymyxin-DexamethNeomycin/Polymyxin B/Dexametha | 31 | $346 |
| Timolol Maleate | 36 | $344 |
| Brimonidine Tartrate | 14 | $117 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other optometrist in Denver
- Matthew MottelerDenver$9K
- Crystal BrimerWilmington$920K
- Osama SaidRaleigh$597K
- Ryan CorteAsheville$569K
- Sanjay PatelApex$518K
- Sean SmolenyakRaleigh$512K
- Rachael WrubleBelmont$228K
- Lisa GreeneArden$186K
- Jennifer LyerlyMorrisville$164K
- Timothy PoirierKnightdale$130K
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.