Melissa Baughcum, APRN
Adult Health · Athens, GANPI 1013276518
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $13,876 of the $22,627 with a category attached, or 61.3%. It is spread thinly across 38 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 23.6%. 2025 is the largest year on record at $10,529, 7.4 times the $1,414 reported in 2021. Among adult health clinicians in GA with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 709 payments — averaging $31.91 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Madrigal Pharmaceuticals$5K
- AbbVie$3K
- Phathom Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$3K
- Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC$2K
- Pfizer$2K
- Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.$813
- plus $7K from 32 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$1,0805%
- Speaking & faculty fees$6,81530%
- Travel & lodging$7713%
- Food & beverage$13,87661%
- Education$840%
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
$22,627 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 577 adult health providers in Georgia.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| XifaxanRifaximin | 103 | $308,703 |
| Entyvio PenVedolizumab | 21 | $133,151 |
| OcalivaObeticholic Acid | 12 | $109,136 |
| LinzessLinaclotide | 88 | $100,047 |
| CreonLipase/Protease/Amylase | 24 | $95,227 |
| Cimzia (2 Pack)Certolizumab Pegol | 13 | $68,253 |
| IbsrelaTenapanor Hcl | 32 | $67,741 |
| RezdiffraResmetirom | 11 | $55,203 |
| MotegrityPrucalopride Succinate | 60 | $36,949 |
| LialdaMesalamine | 11 | $32,692 |
| MovantikNaloxegol Oxalate | 49 | $32,385 |
| Dexlansoprazole DrDexlansoprazole | 64 | $22,960 |
| Mesalamine | 38 | $22,258 |
| VoqueznaVonoprazan Fumarate | 16 | $16,021 |
| Pantoprazole Sodium | 757 | $12,996 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLCXifaxan | $2,158 | $308,703103 claims |
| AbbVieLinzess, Creon | $2,988 | $195,274112 claims |
| Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Ocaliva | $443 | $109,13612 claims |
| UCB, Inc.Cimzia (2 Pack) | $15 | $68,25313 claims |
| Ardelyx, Inc.Ibsrela | $646 | $67,74132 claims |
| Madrigal PharmaceuticalsRezdiffra | $5,339 | $55,20311 claims |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.Motegrity | $813 | $36,94960 claims |
| Phathom Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Voquezna | $2,892 | $16,02116 claims |
| Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc.Clenpiq | $124 | $3,06518 claims |
| SandozLansoprazole | $62 | $1,85942 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 95th percentile of 577 adult health providers in Georgia.
Other adult health in Athens
- Patricia KeeganAtlanta$224K
- Diane WirthAtlanta$132K
- Barbara WeberAtlanta$74K
- Terry HackworthAtlanta$49K
- Jenny DicksonCumming$39K
- Rachel NejemLawrenceville$31K
- Kristine AdamsMarietta$21K
- Jenina LagascaAtlanta$17K
- Jennifer SheldonMacon$17K
- Caleb MagistroAtlanta$17K
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.