Has Melissa Kainer Erwin, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $5,025 in general payments to Melissa Kainer Erwin, MD across 329 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Melissa Kainer Erwin, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Melissa Kainer Erwin, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Melissa Kainer Erwin, MD

Dermatology · El Campo, TXNPI 1649288846

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 91.2% of the total across 329 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. 22 manufacturers reported payments, led by AbbVie at 29.3% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $1,146, 2.8 times the $409 reported in 2019.

$5,025in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 329 payments — averaging $15.27 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

AbbVie$1K
Johnson & Johnson$788
Galderma Laboratories, L.p.$692
Sanofi$474
Incyte Corporation$269
Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc.$253
plus $1K from 16 others

What the payments were for

Food & beverage$4,58391%
Education$4429%

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
AbbVie(2 entities)	112	$1,472
Johnson & Johnson	74	$788
Galderma Laboratories, L.p.	49	$692
Sanofi	21	$474
Incyte Corporation	15	$269
Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc.	12	$253
Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC	2	$179
Amgen	7	$155
Novartis	5	$105
LEO Pharma Inc.	6	$103
Genentech USA, Inc.	1	$96
E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C.	4	$82
Organon	6	$68
Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC	2	$67
UCB, Inc.	3	$60
Lilly USA, LLC	3	$45
Pfizer	2	$35
Dermavant Sciences, Inc.	1	$21
Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc.	1	$18
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.	1	$16
EPI Health, LLC	1	$14
Merz North America, Inc.	1	$11

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.

BOTOX$124

How this compares

$5,025 in reported general payments places this provider in the 55th percentile of 1,098 dermatology providers in Texas.

See all dermatology providers in Texas →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$747,236

Medicare patients

1,722

Services billed

10,244

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
Skyrizi PenRisankizumab-Rzaa	11	$227,555
Dupixent SyringeDupilumab	19	$84,725
Dupixent PenDupilumab	15	$70,068
Doxycycline Hyclate	325	$8,339
Clobetasol Propionate	200	$6,573
Betamethasone Dipropionate	84	$4,279
Azelaic Acid	34	$3,345
Triamcinolone Acetonide	306	$2,526
Metronidazole	43	$2,192
Tretinoin	29	$1,952
Halobetasol Propionate	19	$1,858
Ketoconazole	90	$1,724
ValacyclovirValacyclovir Hcl	75	$1,169
Imiquimod	42	$892
Tacrolimus	11	$753

Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.

Other dermatology in El Campo

Edward LainAustin$2.5M
William CragunSan Antonio$2.2M
Alpesh DesaiHouston$1.6M
Craig TellerBellaire$1.3M
Jennifer CatherDallas$1.3M
Emily BeckerSan Antonio$1.2M
Ross RaduskyDallas$1.2M
Joseph MerolaDallas$1.2M
Daniel CarrascoAustin$1.1M
Dale SchaeferAustin$1M

See the full list for Texas →

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.

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