Lawrence Chao, MD
Cornea and External Diseases Specialist · Irvine, CANPI 1700812997
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $31,285 of the $36,062 with a category attached, or 86.8%. Alcon accounts for 80.8% of it on its own, with 12 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $16,470, more than ten times the $1,152 reported in 2019.
Across 90 payments — averaging $400.69 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Alcon$29K
- Rxsight Inc$3K
- Alcon Research LLC$3K
- Stryker$210
- Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC$176
- Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$120
- plus $324 from 7 others
Across 1 payment — averaging $70,000 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.
- Alcon Research LLC$70K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$31,28587%
- Travel & lodging$1,3444%
- Food & beverage$3,4149%
- Gifts$190%
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 | 47 | $29,127 |
| Rxsight Inc | 19 | $3,255 |
| Alcon Research LLC | 3 | $2,850 |
| Stryker | 2 | $210 |
| Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 5 | $176 |
| Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $120 |
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. | 4 | $114 |
| GSK | 2 | $52 |
| Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision, Inc. | 1 | $48 |
| Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. | 2 | $40 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 2 | $31 |
| Idorsia Pharmaceuticals US Inc | 1 | $20 |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec AG | 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.
- ARGOS$5,908
- LIGHT ADJUSTABLE LENS (LAL) AND LIGHT DELIVERY DEVICE (LDD)$2,625
- LenSx$2,000
- Capella Aberrometer$490
- ReSTOR$344
- Clareon$240
- AcrySof IQ PanOptix$148
- CLARIFIX$141
- ENVISTA TORIC$124
- INVELTYS$120
How this compares
$36,062 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 50 cornea and external diseases specialist providers in California.
See all cornea and external diseases specialist providers in California →
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 | 70 | $65,679 |
| Cyclosporine | 51 | $27,730 |
| Lotemax SmLoteprednol Etabonate | 105 | $26,595 |
| MieboPerfluorohexyloctane/Pf | 15 | $15,587 |
| ZirganGanciclovir | 11 | $6,036 |
| Ketorolac Tromethamine | 207 | $4,395 |
| Ofloxacin | 209 | $2,007 |
| Acyclovir | 16 | $1,621 |
| Brimonidine Tartrate | 13 | $380 |
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 | $31 | $65,67970 claims |
| Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLCLotemax Sm | $176 | $26,595105 claims |
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.Miebo, Zirgan | $114 | $21,62226 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 50 cornea and external diseases specialist providers in California.
Other cornea and external diseases specialist in Irvine
- Sumit GargIrvine$808K
- Matthew WadeIrvine$38K
- Jimmy LeeIrvine$17K
- Elizabeth ShenIrvine$11K
- Rakhi MelvaniIrvine$10K
- Jillian ChongBeverly Hills$113K
- Tyson KimSan Francisco$91K
- Edward MancheStanford$78K
- Michael SavetskyCulver City$63K
- Michael SaidelSonoma$51K
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.