Lekha Desai, MD
Retina Specialist · Raleigh, NCNPI 1548503543
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
11 manufacturers reported payments, led by Alimera Sciences, Inc. at 49.0% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $1,656 and has fallen 83.8% since, to $268 in 2025. That places this record below the midpoint for retina specialist clinicians in NC, where the typical reported total is $3,753.
Across 44 payments — averaging $66.28 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Alimera Sciences, Inc.$1K
- Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc.$507
- AbbVie$231
- Alcon$137
- Genentech USA, Inc.$127
- Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC$125
- plus $361 from 5 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$1,39048%
- Food & beverage$1,52652%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alimera Sciences, Inc. | 3 | $1,429 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 21 | $507 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 7 | $231 |
| Alcon | 2 | $137 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 1 | $127 |
| Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 1 | $125 |
| Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $120 |
| Eyepoint US, Inc. | 1 | $112 |
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. | 3 | $62 |
| Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 3 | $51 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 1 | $15 |
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.
- Iluvien$1,390
- Lucentis$127
- LOTEMAX SM$125
- EYLEA$122
- XDEMVY$120
- AcrySof IQ PanOptix$119
- YUTIQ$112
How this compares
$2,916 in reported general payments places this provider in the 45th percentile of 34 retina specialist providers in North Carolina.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Prednisolone Acetate | 106 | $5,094 |
| Ketorolac Tromethamine | 63 | $1,921 |
| Brimonidine Tartrate | 21 | $1,158 |
| Ofloxacin | 27 | $408 |
| Dorzolamide-TimololDorzolamide Hcl/Timolol Maleat | 15 | $163 |
| Tobramycin | 13 | $55 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other retina specialist in Raleigh
- Daniel BennettRaleigh$126K
- Raynor CaseyRaleigh$34K
- Sachin MudvariRaleigh$33K
- John ThordsenRaleigh$33K
- John DennyRaleigh$31K
- Rebecca ManningRaleigh$9K
- Laura SnyderRaleigh$5K
- Brian LehpamerRaleigh$3K
- Eugene MilderRaleigh$2K
- Lisa FogelRaleigh$2K
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.