Mei Chen
Primary Care · Houston, TXNPI 1548588189
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 178 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. It is spread thinly across 27 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 11.0% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. 2025 is the largest year on record at $1,161, 2.0 times the $572 reported in 2021. Among primary care 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 178 payments — averaging $23.71 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$465
- Merck$373
- Boston Scientific$334
- Johnson & Johnson$327
- Esperion Therapeutics, Inc.$294
- Novartis$273
- plus $2K from 21 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$4,220100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 25 | $465 |
| Merck | 22 | $373 |
| Boston Scientific | 10 | $334 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 18 | $327 |
| Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. | 16 | $294 |
| Novartis | 14 | $273 |
| Bayer | 5 | $266 |
| Bridgebio Pharma, Inc. | 3 | $206 |
| Abiomed | 3 | $184 |
| Sequel Med Tech, LLC | 1 | $172 |
| AstraZeneca | 9 | $168 |
| Impulse Dynamics (USA) Inc. | 1 | $163 |
| Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc. | 6 | $161 |
| Azurity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 9 | $156 |
| Amgen | 5 | $140 |
| Novo Nordisk | 6 | $121 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 5 | $96 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 6 | $66 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 3 | $51 |
| Vifor Pharma, Inc. | 2 | $47 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 1 | $38 |
| Chiesi USA, Inc. | 2 | $33 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 2 | $27 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Tactile Systems Technology Inc | 1 | $16 |
| Abbott | 1 | $14 |
| Scpharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $13 |
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
$4,220 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 563 primary care providers in Texas.
Other primary care in Houston
- Mary GibbensHouston$42K
- Joanna LarsonHouston$7K
- Catherine PenceHouston$3K
- Phillip GulleySan Antonio$23K
- Herbert BautistaDallas$14K
- Brandi JoynerLongview$12K
- Steven ParisAustin$10K
- Hope OdomCollege Station$10K
- Arlena GraysTomball$9K
- Charlotte BallardSan Antonio$9K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.