Melissa le
Optometrist · Chesapeake, VANPI 1275846503
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $5,555 of the $6,462 with a category attached, or 86.0%. 23 manufacturers reported payments, led by Alcon at 37.1% of the total. Among optometrist clinicians in VA 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 178 payments — averaging $36.30 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Alcon$2K
- AbbVie$1K
- Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc.$1K
- Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.$286
- Coopervision Inc.$220
- Glaukos Corporation$177
- plus $1K from 17 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$90714%
- Food & beverage$5,55586%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alcon | 60 | $2,400 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 38 | $1,077 |
| Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. | 28 | $1,056 |
| Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. | 12 | $286 |
| Coopervision Inc. | 4 | $220 |
| Glaukos Corporation | 2 | $177 |
| Dompe US, Inc. | 4 | $168 |
| Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 3 | $167 |
| Alimera Sciences, Inc. | 1 | $164 |
| Oyster Point Pharma, Inc. | 4 | $163 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 2 | $136 |
| Harrow Eye, LLC | 6 | $136 |
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. | 3 | $52 |
| Novartis | 2 | $42 |
| Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision, Inc. | 1 | $39 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 1 | $33 |
| Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. | 1 | $28 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 1 | $25 |
| Eyevance Pharmaceuticals LLC | 1 | $23 |
| Thea Pharma Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| ABB Con-cise Optical Group LLC | 1 | $12 |
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
$6,462 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 1,230 optometrist providers in Virginia.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| CystadropsCysteamine Hcl | 13 | $120,299 |
| RestasisCyclosporine | 39 | $42,511 |
| XiidraLifitegrast | 12 | $19,440 |
| Cyclosporine | 25 | $14,202 |
| MieboPerfluorohexyloctane/Pf | 12 | $8,839 |
| Latanoprost | 67 | $643 |
| Prednisolone Acetate | 11 | $471 |
| Neomycin-Polymyxin-DexamethNeomycin/Polymyxin B/Dexametha | 17 | $191 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AbbVieRestasis | $1,077 | $42,51139 claims |
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.Xiidra, Miebo | $52 | $28,27824 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 1,230 optometrist providers in Virginia.
Other optometrist in Chesapeake
- Michael SwattsChesapeake$59K
- Walter WhitleyNorfolk$546K
- Jacqueline TheisRichmond$80K
- Joseph AllenRichmond$75K
- Keith SmithsonReston$74K
- Kurt DevitoVirginia Beach$54K
- Walter SchlabachHarrisonburg$31K
- Mark AbrahamFalls Church$30K
- David TangVirginia Beach$29K
- Tiffany LioneAldie$23K
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.