Melanie Spears
Nurse Practitioner · Knoxville, TNNPI 1336785898
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 96.4% of the total across 109 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 36 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 14.9% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. 2025 is the largest year on record at $1,312, 3.3 times the $397 reported in 2023.
Across 109 payments — averaging $23.87 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.$387
- Johnson & Johnson$277
- Bristol Myers Squibb$249
- Novartis$208
- AstraZeneca$137
- E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C.$113
- plus $1K from 30 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$2,50996%
- Education$934%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 16 | $387 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 8 | $277 |
| Bristol Myers Squibb | 12 | $249 |
| Novartis | 9 | $208 |
| AstraZeneca(2 entities) | 6 | $137 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 4 | $113 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 5 | $112 |
| Daiichi Sankyo Inc. | 4 | $87 |
| Springworks Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $76 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 4 | $75 |
| Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc | 2 | $66 |
| Gilead | 3 | $64 |
| Deciphera Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 2 | $52 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 2 | $48 |
| AbbVie | 2 | $47 |
| Beone Medicines USA, Inc. | 2 | $44 |
| Pfizer | 2 | $42 |
| Exelixis Inc. | 2 | $41 |
| Sanofi | 2 | $38 |
| Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $35 |
| Taiho Oncology, Inc. | 2 | $34 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 2 | $34 |
| Bayer | 2 | $34 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 1 | $32 |
| Tersera Therapeutics LLC | 2 | $31 |
| Merck | 1 | $30 |
| Incyte Corporation | 1 | $30 |
| Caris MPI, Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| GSK | 1 | $23 |
| EMD Serono, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 1 | $22 |
| Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Puma Biotechnology, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Servier Pharmaceuticals LLC | 1 | $18 |
| Eisai Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Amgen | 1 | $14 |
How this compares
$2,602 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 2,662 nurse practitioner providers in Tennessee.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Letrozole | 47 | $492 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 13 | $357 |
| Morphine Sulfate ErMorphine Sulfate | 11 | $236 |
| Ondansetron Hcl | 15 | $221 |
| Gabapentin | 17 | $197 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 11 | $173 |
| Anastrozole | 12 | $142 |
| Prednisone | 11 | $91 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other nurse practitioner in Knoxville
- Karen RodenKnoxville$265K
- Erica HembreeKnoxville$125K
- Robin LovedayKnoxville$56K
- Tiffany SteelmanKnoxville$21K
- Jennifer BerryKnoxville$19K
- Erica HillKnoxville$13K
- Amy HatcherMurfreesboro$1.1M
- Susan UtleyNashville$194K
- Whitney EricksonMemphis$159K
- Brooke FaughtNashville$87K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.