Melvin Gehrig
Optometrist · Lake Charles, LANPI 1932181427
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $6,200 of the $7,012 with a category attached, or 88.4%. 23 manufacturers reported payments, led by Alcon at 39.2% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $1,525 and has fallen 65.3% since, to $530 in 2025. Among optometrist clinicians in LA 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 146 payments — averaging $48.03 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Alcon$3K
- Glaukos Corporation$636
- Coopervision Inc.$590
- AbbVie$446
- Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.$435
- Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc.$343
- plus $2K from 17 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$81112%
- Food & beverage$6,20088%
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 | 52 | $2,752 |
| Glaukos Corporation | 6 | $636 |
| Coopervision Inc. | 13 | $590 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 12 | $446 |
| Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. | 13 | $435 |
| Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. | 6 | $343 |
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. | 5 | $275 |
| Dompe US, Inc. | 2 | $243 |
| Optos, Inc. | 3 | $242 |
| Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 8 | $230 |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec USA, Inc. | 1 | $132 |
| Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 1 | $119 |
| Oyster Point Pharma, Inc. | 6 | $107 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 3 | $82 |
| Harrow Eye, LLC | 2 | $62 |
| Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 4 | $58 |
| Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision, Inc. | 1 | $54 |
| Amgen | 2 | $48 |
| Synergeyes, Inc. | 1 | $39 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 2 | $34 |
| ABB Con-cise Optical Group LLC | 1 | $32 |
| Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. | 1 | $29 |
| Alimera Sciences, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
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.
- DAILIES$1,174
- AIR OPTIX$652
- PANORAMIC OPHTHALMOSCOPE$443
- CEQUA$250
- TOTAL30$249
- Oxervate$243
- VUITY$236
- OCT OPHTHALMOSCOPE$222
- NFC-700$222
- MIEBO$221
- CE-marked KXLA system$183
- iDose$172
- Acuvue$150
- iStent Trabecular Micro-Bypass System Model iS3$146
- DAILIES TOTAL1$134
- CLARUS$132
- XDEMVY$122
- PROLENSA$119
- KXL System$114
- Photrexa$114
How this compares
$7,012 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 500 optometrist providers in Louisiana.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| LumiganBimatoprost | 63 | $30,741 |
| RestasisCyclosporine | 27 | $26,975 |
| VyzultaLatanoprostene Bunod | 21 | $11,932 |
| RocklatanNetarsudil Mesylat/Latanoprost | 22 | $10,451 |
| CombiganBrimonidine Tartrate/Timolol | 22 | $8,926 |
| Travoprost | 44 | $8,493 |
| TyrvayaVarenicline Tartrate | 13 | $8,306 |
| SimbrinzaBrinzolamide/Brimonidine Tart | 16 | $5,439 |
| Brimonidine Tartrate-TimololBrimonidine Tartrate/Timolol | 20 | $4,010 |
| Fluorometholone | 29 | $3,023 |
| Prednisolone Acetate | 49 | $1,877 |
| Latanoprost | 201 | $1,638 |
| Tobramycin-DexamethasoneTobramycin/Dexamethasone | 33 | $1,339 |
| Dorzolamide-TimololDorzolamide Hcl/Timolol Maleat | 74 | $1,148 |
| Timolol Maleate | 62 | $485 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AbbVieLumigan, Restasis, Combigan | $446 | $66,642112 claims |
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.Vyzulta | $275 | $11,93221 claims |
| Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Rocklatan | $58 | $10,45122 claims |
| Oyster Point Pharma, Inc.Tyrvaya | $107 | $8,30613 claims |
| AlconSimbrinza | $2,752 | $5,43916 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 500 optometrist providers in Louisiana.
Other optometrist in Lake Charles
- Pamela TheriotShreveport$207K
- Joshua DavidsonGonzales$189K
- Jeffrey WilhiteMarrero$86K
- Christopher WrotenHammond$59K
- James LamarNew Orleans$45K
- John McCallLogansport$32K
- Robert KellyMarrero$26K
- Shane FontenotJennings$23K
- Stephen LewisShreveport$17K
- Breanne McGheeNew Orleans$14K
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.