Melody Tavakoli
Optometrist · San Diego, CANPI 1154623254
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by speaking fees: $201,385 of the $266,538 with a category attached, or 75.6%. Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. accounts for 99.6% of it on its own, with 4 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $103,435, more than ten times the $212 reported in 2020. Among optometrist clinicians in CA 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 615 payments — averaging $433.40 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc.$265K
- Coopervision Inc.$792
- Amgen$125
- Alcon$120
- Ocular Therapeutix, Inc.$20
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$11,2004%
- Speaking & faculty fees$201,38576%
- Travel & lodging$42,01816%
- Food & beverage$11,9364%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. | 601 | $265,481 |
| Coopervision Inc. | 7 | $792 |
| Amgen | 1 | $125 |
| Alcon | 5 | $120 |
| Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
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
$266,538 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 6,778 optometrist providers in California.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Latanoprost | 14 | $258 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other optometrist in San Diego
- Jason TuSan Diego$351K
- Alicia LauSan Diego$300K
- Brian ChouSan Diego$243K
- David GeffenSan Diego$144K
- Elliott ShapiroSan Diego$135K
- Keith WanSan Diego$87K
- Jennifer ChinnSan Diego$67K
- Steve YoelinNewport Beach$4.1M
- Matthew GellerSpring Valley$3.5M
- Melissa EricksonDavis$522K
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.