RxDoctor Payments Data

Leopoldo Puga, MD

Cardiovascular Disease · Bakersfield, CANPI 1659312536

Payments from drug & device makers

$9,917in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 438 payments — averaging $22.64 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

  • Abbott$2K
  • Novartis$935
  • AstraZeneca$895
  • Merck$874
  • ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp)$539
  • Boston Scientific$500
  • plus $4K from 34 others

What the payments were for

  • Travel & lodging$1,04010%
  • Food & beverage$8,84289%
  • Education$350%

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

19
20
21
22
23
24
25

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.

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

$9,917 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 2,184 cardiovascular disease providers in California.

See all cardiovascular disease providers in California

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024
$993,534
Medicare patients
1,285
Services billed
7,141

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

DrugClaimsCost to plans & patients
EliquisApixaban624$536,223
EntrestoSacubitril/Valsartan335$320,301
XareltoRivaroxaban131$106,624
FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol144$100,581
JanuviaSitagliptin Phosphate54$48,334
JardianceEmpagliflozin53$39,636
BrilintaTicagrelor30$25,774
Repatha SyringeEvolocumab27$20,437
Repatha SureclickEvolocumab24$19,748
OzempicSemaglutide19$16,916
TradjentaLinagliptin20$12,908
Amiodarone Hcl501$9,981
Clonidine88$8,344
Losartan Potassium994$7,742
Bumetanide193$7,185

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.

CompanyPaid to this providerPart D cost of their drugs
PfizerEliquis$320$536,223624 claims
NovartisEntresto$935$320,301335 claims
AstraZenecaFarxiga, Brilinta$895$126,355174 claims
Johnson & JohnsonXarelto$85$106,624131 claims
Boehringer IngelheimJardiance, Tradjenta, Synjardy Xr$465$57,59186 claims
MerckJanuvia$874$48,33454 claims
Novo NordiskOzempic$54$16,91619 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 70th percentile of 2,184 cardiovascular disease providers in California.

Other cardiovascular disease in Bakersfield

See the full list for California

Where these figures come from

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