Karla Velez Rivera, MD
Internal Medicine · Mayaguez, PRNPI 1801039961
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 116 payments — averaging $29.70 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp)$671
- Johnson & Johnson$586
- Abbott$457
- AstraZeneca$410
- Medtronic$348
- E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C.$246
- plus $727 from 9 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$3,445100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 24 | $671 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 18 | $586 |
| Abbott | 26 | $457 |
| AstraZeneca | 12 | $410 |
| Medtronic | 7 | $348 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 5 | $246 |
| GSK | 2 | $157 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 5 | $125 |
| Boston Scientific | 4 | $106 |
| BD | 3 | $99 |
| PBG Puerto Rico LLC | 5 | $95 |
| Bayer Puerto Rico Inc. | 2 | $61 |
| Sanofi | 1 | $41 |
| Novartis | 1 | $24 |
| Bayer | 1 | $22 |
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.
- ELIQUIS$125
- ANORO ELLIPTA$125
- FARXIGA$116
How this compares
$3,445 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 1,043 internal medicine providers in Puerto Rico.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol | 132 | $97,822 |
| EliquisApixaban | 83 | $51,177 |
| XareltoRivaroxaban | 66 | $44,237 |
| OzempicSemaglutide | 20 | $23,044 |
| MounjaroTirzepatide | 15 | $20,402 |
| Humalog Kwikpen U-200Insulin Lispro | 17 | $14,557 |
| Trelegy ElliptaFluticasone/Umeclidin/Vilanter | 19 | $12,585 |
| TradjentaLinagliptin | 14 | $11,496 |
| LantusInsulin Glargine,hum.Rec.Anlog | 109 | $11,260 |
| SynthroidLevothyroxine Sodium | 129 | $9,683 |
| JentaduetoLinagliptin/Metformin Hcl | 15 | $7,991 |
| BrilintaTicagrelor | 17 | $7,900 |
| Jentadueto XrLinagliptin/Metformin Hcl | 11 | $7,102 |
| HumalogInsulin Lispro | 36 | $6,408 |
| Candesartan Cilexetil | 72 | $5,004 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AstraZenecaFarxiga, Brilinta | $410 | $105,722149 claims |
| Johnson & JohnsonXarelto | $586 | $44,23766 claims |
| Boehringer IngelheimTradjenta, Jentadueto, Jentadueto Xr | $125 | $26,58840 claims |
| GSKTrelegy Ellipta | $157 | $12,58519 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 85th percentile of 1,043 internal medicine providers in Puerto Rico.
Other internal medicine in Mayaguez
- Javier TorresMayaguez$10K
- Elizabeth BarrancoPonce$8M
- Grisell Ortiz LasantaSan Juan$5.9M
- Ruben Santiago-LugoGuaynabo$1.3M
- Nelson VallejoLas Piedras$621K
- Ricardo FernandezSan Juan$480K
- Ronald Collazo PaganManati$206K
- Evelyn Matta FontanetRio Grande$200K
- Angel VinuelaDorado$182K
- Lumen Vera ColonAibonito$179K
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.