Joseph Fries, MD
Vascular Neurology · Houston, TXNPI 1194222810
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 99.4% of the total across 92 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. It is spread thinly across 24 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 18.4% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations.
Across 92 payments — averaging $31.62 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- UCB, Inc.$534
- AbbVie$382
- Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.$357
- Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.$217
- Sanofi$209
- Eisai Inc.$166
- plus $1K from 18 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$2,89299%
- Education$171%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| UCB, Inc. | 16 | $534 |
| AbbVie | 19 | $382 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 7 | $357 |
| Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. | 5 | $217 |
| Sanofi | 2 | $209 |
| Eisai Inc. | 3 | $166 |
| Abbott | 1 | $147 |
| MDD US Operations, LLC | 1 | $113 |
| Amgen | 5 | $104 |
| AstraZeneca | 1 | $104 |
| Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc | 5 | $89 |
| Novartis | 4 | $81 |
| Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 4 | $72 |
| CSL Behring | 4 | $61 |
| Grifols USA, LLC | 2 | $46 |
| Pfizer | 2 | $34 |
| Biogen | 2 | $32 |
| Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. | 2 | $31 |
| Chiesi USA, Inc. | 2 | $29 |
| Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc | 1 | $24 |
| Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $24 |
| Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| ANI Pharmaceuticals, 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
$2,909 in reported general payments places this provider in the 60th percentile of 76 vascular neurology providers in Texas.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Gabapentin | 32 | $220 |
| Donepezil Hcl | 15 | $64 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other vascular neurology in Houston
- John VolpiHouston$407K
- Amrou SarrajHouston$182K
- Sunil ShethHouston$54K
- Haris KamalHouston$21K
- Sean SavitzHouston$20K
- Louise McCulloughHouston$14K
- Michael NahhasHouston$10K
- Rajan GadhiaHouston$5K
- Mohammad El-GhanemHouston$5K
- Robert RegenhardtHouston$5K
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.