Has Karen McCowen, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $736 in general payments to Karen McCowen, MD across 25 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Karen McCowen, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Karen McCowen, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Karen McCowen, MD

Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism · San Diego, CANPI 1972541274

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

This record is dominated by food and beverage: $462 of the $736 with a category attached, or 62.7%. 7 manufacturers reported payments, led by Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. at 34.0% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $370 and has fallen 67.1% since, to $122 in 2025. That places this record below the midpoint for endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism clinicians in CA, where the typical reported total is $1,096.

$736in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 25 payments — averaging $29.44 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.$250
Abbott$198
Eisai Inc.$120
Amgen$98
Insulet Corporation$26
Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$24
plus $19 from 1 others

$6,784in research payments, 2019–2025

Across 2 payments — averaging $3391.88 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.

Radius Health, Inc.$7K

What the payments were for

Consulting fees$25034%
Food & beverage$46263%
Education$243%

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
Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.	1	$250
Abbott	16	$198
Eisai Inc.	1	$120
Amgen	4	$98
Insulet Corporation	1	$26
Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	1	$24
Pfizer	1	$19

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.

LENVIMA$120

How this compares

$736 in reported general payments places this provider in the 40th percentile of 952 endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism providers in California.

See all endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism providers in California →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$76,158

Medicare patients

443

Services billed

813

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
Teriparatide	68	$162,286
ForteoTeriparatide	25	$137,617
OzempicSemaglutide	85	$101,169
TymlosAbaloparatide	25	$64,558
TrulicityDulaglutide	48	$52,912
JardianceEmpagliflozin	36	$40,129
MounjaroTirzepatide	24	$34,837
Omnipod 5 Dexg7g6 Pods (Gen 5)Insulin Pump Cart,auto,bt,g6/7	14	$23,432
Toujeo SolostarInsulin Glargine,hum.Rec.Anlog	23	$9,837
Tresiba Flextouch U-100Insulin Degludec	18	$8,647
Basaglar Kwikpen U-100Insulin Glargine,hum.Rec.Anlog	20	$7,702
Hydrocortisone	162	$6,668
Levothyroxine Sodium	295	$6,069
Desmopressin AcetateDesmopressin (Nonrefrigerated)	11	$5,862
SynthroidLevothyroxine Sodium	54	$5,690

Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.

Other endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism in San Diego

Juan FriasSan Diego$1.4M
Ken FujiokaSan Diego$747K
Raymond PlodkowskiSan Diego$546K
Jeremy PettusSan Diego$493K
Samantha HarrisSan Diego$113K
Suvesh ChandiokSan Diego$71K
Schafer BoederSan Diego$60K
Joselito CabaccanSan Jose$1.4M
Daniel NadeauNewport Beach$1.2M
Yehuda HandelsmanTarzana$1M

See the full list for California →

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.

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