RxDoctor Payments Data

Jonathan Smith, MD

Nephrology · Houston, TXNPI 1841546447

Payments from drug & device makers

$1,147in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 40 payments — averaging $28.67 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

  • Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.$367
  • Vifor Pharma, Inc.$169
  • Mallinckrodt Enterprises LLC$141
  • Fresenius USA Marketing, Inc.$131
  • Travere Therapeutics, Inc.$125
  • Amgen$67
  • plus $147 from 5 others

What the payments were for

  • Food & beverage$76567%
  • Education$38233%

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

19
20
21
24
25

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.

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

$1,147 in reported general payments places this provider in the 40th percentile of 1,070 nephrology providers in Texas.

See all nephrology providers in Texas

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024
$131,462
Medicare patients
222
Services billed
1,000

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

DrugClaimsCost to plans & patients
VelphoroSucroferric Oxyhydroxide44$124,729
VeltassaPatiromer Calcium Sorbitex49$57,513
FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol43$48,009
KerendiaFinerenone30$25,161
LokelmaSodium Zirconium Cyclosilicate14$16,516
JardianceEmpagliflozin15$14,032
ProcritEpoetin Alfa13$6,611
Sevelamer Carbonate35$4,504
Clonidine25$3,216
Cinacalcet Hcl14$3,051
Nifedipine ErNifedipine61$1,632
Calcitriol94$1,416
Potassium Chloride23$1,159
Hydralazine Hcl41$955
Lisinopril78$737

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.

CompanyPaid to this providerPart D cost of their drugs
Fresenius USA Marketing, Inc.Velphoro$131$124,72944 claims
BayerKerendia$28$25,16130 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 40th percentile of 1,070 nephrology providers in Texas.

Other nephrology in Houston

See the full list for Texas

Where these figures come from

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