Lixin Zhang, MD
Neurology · Amherst, NYNPI 1154482859
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $10,334 of the $12,122 with a category attached, or 85.3%. It is spread thinly across 60 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 23.3% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. Reporting peaked in 2021 at $3,544 and has fallen 67.4% since, to $1,154 in 2025.
Across 579 payments — averaging $20.94 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AbbVie$3K
- Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.$889
- UCB, Inc.$688
- Novartis$580
- Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$555
- Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.$478
- plus $6K from 54 others
Across 38 payments — averaging $6547.98 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.
- Otonomy, Inc.$155K
- GRT US Holding, Inc.$94K
Across 7 payments — averaging $69,704 each. An ownership or investment interest held by the physician or an immediate family member.
- Neurology Practice Consortium GPO, LLC$488K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$1,59013%
- Speaking & faculty fees$180%
- Food & beverage$10,33485%
- Education$1791%
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.
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
$12,122 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 1,623 neurology providers in New York.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Droxidopa | 18 | $17,057 |
| Lamotrigine | 327 | $3,270 |
| Bupropion XlBupropion Hcl | 213 | $3,098 |
| Gabapentin | 297 | $3,036 |
| Levetiracetam | 91 | $2,171 |
| Carbamazepine ErCarbamazepine | 12 | $1,311 |
| Oxcarbazepine | 29 | $1,135 |
| Divalproex Sodium | 25 | $679 |
| Sertraline Hcl | 78 | $653 |
| Trazodone Hcl | 88 | $557 |
| Escitalopram Oxalate | 50 | $483 |
| Duloxetine Hcl | 38 | $470 |
| Quetiapine Fumarate | 26 | $469 |
| Mirtazapine | 29 | $455 |
| Pregabalin | 33 | $430 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Upsher-smith Laboratories LLCTopiramate | $32 | $12013 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 80th percentile of 1,623 neurology providers in New York.
Other neurology in Amherst
- Nicolas SaikaliAmherst$1.5M
- Jennifer McVigeAmherst$982K
- Bennett MyersAmherst$432K
- Laszlo MechtlerAmherst$347K
- Wisam ElmalikAmherst$289K
- Idan SharonBrooklyn$2.1M
- Allan PerelStaten Island$1.7M
- David KreitzmanCommack$1.5M
- Charles ArgoffAlbany$1.2M
- Stephen KriegerNew York$1.1M
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.