Lauro Ortega, MD
Internal Medicine · El Paso, TXNPI 1467890772
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $4,393 of the $5,273 with a category attached, or 83.3%. 27 manufacturers reported payments, led by Boston Scientific at 28.1% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $2,103, 3.8 times the $557 reported in 2019. Among internal medicine clinicians in TX with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 164 payments — averaging $32.15 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Boston Scientific$1K
- AstraZeneca$474
- Amgen$441
- Johnson & Johnson$395
- Abbott$388
- Boehringer Ingelheim$235
- plus $2K from 21 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$87417%
- Food & beverage$4,39383%
- Education$60%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Scientific | 6 | $1,483 |
| AstraZeneca | 27 | $474 |
| Amgen | 19 | $441 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 13 | $395 |
| Abbott | 13 | $388 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 12 | $235 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 10 | $225 |
| Bayer | 6 | $194 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 6 | $181 |
| Novo Nordisk | 9 | $144 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 7 | $144 |
| AbbVie | 3 | $141 |
| GSK | 7 | $124 |
| Radius Health, Inc. | 7 | $120 |
| Merit Medical Systems Inc | 1 | $116 |
| Pfizer | 6 | $103 |
| Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. | 1 | $90 |
| BD | 1 | $87 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $47 |
| Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc. | 2 | $27 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 1 | $21 |
| Novartis | 1 | $19 |
| Eisai Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Azurity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Merck | 1 | $15 |
| Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
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
$5,273 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 7,675 internal medicine providers in Texas.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| OzempicSemaglutide | 81 | $111,208 |
| EliquisApixaban | 42 | $59,738 |
| MounjaroTirzepatide | 27 | $58,150 |
| FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol | 36 | $41,420 |
| RybelsusSemaglutide | 13 | $31,509 |
| Trelegy ElliptaFluticasone/Umeclidin/Vilanter | 25 | $20,274 |
| XareltoRivaroxaban | 12 | $14,306 |
| Breztri AerosphereBudesonide/Glycopyr/Formoterol | 13 | $12,190 |
| Tresiba Flextouch U-200Insulin Degludec | 19 | $11,701 |
| Rosuvastatin Calcium | 337 | $5,579 |
| PremarinEstrogens, Conjugated | 13 | $5,021 |
| Icosapent Ethyl | 11 | $4,605 |
| Levothyroxine Sodium | 301 | $4,452 |
| Doxepin Hcl | 16 | $3,531 |
| Lantus SolostarInsulin Glargine,hum.Rec.Anlog | 19 | $3,387 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Novo NordiskOzempic, Rybelsus | $144 | $142,71794 claims |
| PfizerEliquis, Premarin | $103 | $64,75955 claims |
| Lilly USA, LLCMounjaro | $144 | $58,15027 claims |
| AstraZenecaFarxiga, Breztri Aerosphere | $474 | $53,61049 claims |
| GSKTrelegy Ellipta | $124 | $20,27425 claims |
| Johnson & JohnsonXarelto | $395 | $14,30612 claims |
| AbbVieSynthroid | $141 | $1,15337 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 90th percentile of 7,675 internal medicine providers in Texas.
Other internal medicine in El Paso
- Mohammed Al-NajjarEl Paso$586K
- Michael AnnabiEl Paso$188K
- Spencer BerthelsenSugar Land$891K
- Hameed AliTemple$773K
- Marc TribbleDallas$693K
- Gary SinclairDallas$599K
- Han SchmidlyDallas$465K
- Hussein TawbiHouston$365K
- Hans LeeHouston$327K
- Tapan KadiaHouston$311K
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.