Laura Dember, MD
Nephrology · Philadelphia, PANPI 1144285370
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $108,353 of the $109,741 with a category attached, or 98.7%. 6 manufacturers reported payments, led by Vertex at 49.0% of the total. Among nephrology clinicians in PA 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 49 payments — averaging $2239.61 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Vertex$54K
- CSL Behring$35K
- Merck$9K
- AstraZeneca$7K
- GSK$5K
- Cook Medical LLC$17
Across 2 payments — averaging $220,151 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.
- Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd$410K
- Regeneron$30K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$108,35399%
- Travel & lodging$8511%
- Food & beverage$5380%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Vertex | 17 | $53,815 |
| CSL Behring | 7 | $35,000 |
| Merck | 14 | $9,431 |
| AstraZeneca | 8 | $6,591 |
| GSK | 2 | $4,888 |
| Cook Medical LLC | 1 | $17 |
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
$109,741 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 586 nephrology providers in Pennsylvania.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Valsartan | 22 | $964 |
| Calcitriol | 22 | $678 |
| Chlorthalidone | 21 | $354 |
| Amlodipine Besylate | 16 | $221 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other nephrology in Philadelphia
- Rakesh GulatiPhiladelphia$657K
- Raymond TownsendPhiladelphia$357K
- Ellie KelepourisPhiladelphia$287K
- Abdallahsassine GearaPhiladelphia$225K
- Katalin SusztakPhiladelphia$192K
- Debbie Cohen SteinPhiladelphia$112K
- Jonathan HoganPhiladelphia$100K
- Michael YoslovPhiladelphia$79K
- Michael LevinPhiladelphia$55K
- Gaia MuallemPhiladelphia$54K
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.