Kara Dodgens
Optometrist · Easley, SCNPI 1710186572
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 111 payments — averaging $26.88 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Alcon$652
- Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.$347
- Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$265
- Oyster Point Pharma, Inc.$249
- Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.$240
- Sight Sciences, Inc.$220
- plus $1K from 19 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$2,983100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alcon | 15 | $652 |
| Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. | 14 | $347 |
| Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 17 | $265 |
| Oyster Point Pharma, Inc. | 11 | $249 |
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. | 10 | $240 |
| Sight Sciences, Inc. | 6 | $220 |
| Biotissue Holdings Inc. | 4 | $172 |
| Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 9 | $137 |
| Amgen | 1 | $120 |
| Quidel Corporation | 2 | $88 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 3 | $79 |
| Harrow Eye, LLC | 3 | $60 |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec USA, Inc. | 1 | $58 |
| Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. | 2 | $39 |
| Novartis | 2 | $38 |
| Rayner Intraocular Lenses Limited | 2 | $37 |
| Coopervision Inc. | 1 | $25 |
| Thea Pharma Inc. | 1 | $25 |
| Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Dompe US, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Tearlab Corp | 1 | $20 |
| Omeros Corporation | 1 | $20 |
| Lumenis, Inc | 1 | $18 |
| Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision, 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.
- TEPEZZA$120
- Rocklatan$109
- Rhopressa$109
- AcrySof IQ VIVITY IOL$107
- AcrySof$106
How this compares
$2,983 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 653 optometrist providers in South 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 |
|---|---|---|
| RestasisCyclosporine | 64 | $75,166 |
| XiidraLifitegrast | 29 | $39,788 |
| CequaCyclosporine | 30 | $24,503 |
| Cyclosporine | 38 | $22,249 |
| MieboPerfluorohexyloctane/Pf | 20 | $18,545 |
| TyrvayaVarenicline Tartrate | 24 | $16,393 |
| Lotemax SmLoteprednol Etabonate | 15 | $3,743 |
| Latanoprost | 76 | $759 |
| Prednisolone Acetate | 17 | $514 |
| ErythromycinErythromycin Base | 14 | $129 |
| Timolol Maleate | 15 | $83 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AbbVieRestasis | $79 | $75,16664 claims |
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.Xiidra, Miebo | $240 | $58,33349 claims |
| Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.Cequa | $347 | $24,50330 claims |
| Oyster Point Pharma, Inc.Tyrvaya | $249 | $16,39324 claims |
| Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLCLotemax Sm | $137 | $3,74315 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 80th percentile of 653 optometrist providers in South Carolina.
Other optometrist in Easley
- William ColemanEasley$22K
- Catherine BowdenEasley$13K
- Patrick VollmerColumbia$1.6M
- Elliott KellerBoiling Springs$276K
- William SpearmanPickens$104K
- Thomas WeshefskyMyrtle Beach$77K
- Duc TranColumbia$57K
- Richard BedellCharleston$55K
- Furman SmithMt Pleasant$21K
- Jennifer ZolmanCharleston$21K
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.