Joyce Vacek, PA
Physician Assistant · Council Bluffs, IANPI 1285791186
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $4,542 of the $6,942 with a category attached, or 65.4%. 34 manufacturers reported payments, led by AbbVie at 48.7% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $3,556 and has fallen 60.2% since, to $1,417 in 2024. Among physician assistant clinicians in IA 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 236 payments — averaging $29.41 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AbbVie$3K
- Aimmune Therapeutics, Inc.$579
- AstraZeneca$373
- Bayer$329
- Amgen$252
- Novo Nordisk$204
- plus $2K from 28 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$2,40035%
- Food & beverage$4,54265%
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 | 55 | $3,380 |
| Aimmune Therapeutics, Inc. | 3 | $579 |
| AstraZeneca | 14 | $373 |
| Bayer | 19 | $329 |
| Amgen | 18 | $252 |
| Novo Nordisk | 14 | $204 |
| GSK | 16 | $154 |
| Gilead | 6 | $145 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 10 | $145 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 10 | $144 |
| Nestle Healthcare Nutrition Inc. | 1 | $144 |
| Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc | 6 | $110 |
| Novartis | 6 | $102 |
| Corcept Therapeutics | 5 | $94 |
| Pfizer | 6 | $85 |
| Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 5 | $76 |
| ITI, Inc. (d/b/a Intra-cellular Therapies, Inc.) | 4 | $61 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 4 | $60 |
| Merck | 4 | $56 |
| Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd. | 4 | $55 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 4 | $54 |
| Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. | 3 | $53 |
| Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 3 | $48 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 3 | $42 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 3 | $37 |
| Exact Sciences | 1 | $31 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 2 | $31 |
| Neos Therapeutics, LP | 1 | $19 |
| Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Insulet Corporation | 1 | $15 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| Eisai Inc. | 1 | $12 |
| Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc. | 1 | $12 |
| Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc. | 1 | $12 |
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
$6,942 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 1,140 physician assistant providers in Iowa.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Trelegy ElliptaFluticasone/Umeclidin/Vilanter | 24 | $27,706 |
| EliquisApixaban | 33 | $20,908 |
| RybelsusSemaglutide | 11 | $8,779 |
| Fluticasone-SalmeterolFluticasone Propion/Salmeterol | 19 | $3,570 |
| SynthroidLevothyroxine Sodium | 19 | $2,582 |
| Calcitonin-SalmonCalcitonin,salmon,synthetic | 23 | $1,966 |
| Albuterol Sulfate HfaAlbuterol Sulfate | 65 | $1,918 |
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 211 | $991 |
| Omeprazole | 59 | $853 |
| Pravastatin Sodium | 79 | $775 |
| Potassium Chloride | 55 | $769 |
| Amlodipine Besylate | 137 | $744 |
| Levothyroxine Sodium | 141 | $731 |
| Gabapentin | 39 | $618 |
| Bupropion XlBupropion Hcl | 26 | $612 |
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.
| Company | Paid to this provider | Part D cost of their drugs |
|---|---|---|
| GSKTrelegy Ellipta | $154 | $27,70624 claims |
| PfizerEliquis | $85 | $20,90833 claims |
| Novo NordiskRybelsus | $204 | $8,77911 claims |
| AbbVieSynthroid | $3,380 | $2,58219 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 95th percentile of 1,140 physician assistant providers in Iowa.
Other physician assistant in Council Bluffs
- Sara RygolCouncil Bluffs$11K
- Theresa MacdissiCouncil Bluffs$7K
- Amanda LynnCouncil Bluffs$6K
- Holly BaumannCouncil Bluffs$5K
- Quinn SchulteCouncil Bluffs$5K
- Wendy JohnsonCouncil Bluffs$4K
- Jayson GesulgaUrbandale$878K
- Laurie ClairJohnston$293K
- Katherine LemAmes$224K
- Laura CunninghamWest Des Moines$128K
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.