Melvin Lightford, MD
Internal Medicine · Nashville, TNNPI 1467494591
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 494 payments — averaging $18.18 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AstraZeneca$1K
- Novo Nordisk$1K
- GSK$1K
- Pfizer$811
- Lilly USA, LLC$665
- Boehringer Ingelheim$523
- plus $3K from 28 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$8,980100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AstraZeneca | 57 | $1,289 |
| Novo Nordisk | 72 | $1,201 |
| GSK | 60 | $1,026 |
| Pfizer | 49 | $811 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 50 | $665 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 30 | $523 |
| Bayer | 18 | $401 |
| AbbVie | 21 | $391 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 17 | $295 |
| Abbott | 13 | $292 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 16 | $246 |
| Exact Sciences | 13 | $229 |
| Novartis | 13 | $224 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 10 | $195 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 10 | $194 |
| Merck | 9 | $161 |
| Cequr Corporation | 3 | $138 |
| Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 7 | $135 |
| Vertex | 3 | $95 |
| Medtronic | 3 | $77 |
| Insulet Corporation | 3 | $54 |
| Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc. | 3 | $54 |
| Dexcom, Inc. | 2 | $53 |
| Eisai Inc. | 2 | $35 |
| Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $25 |
| Shield Therapeutics Inc | 1 | $23 |
| ITI, Inc. (d/b/a Intra-cellular Therapies, Inc.) | 1 | $23 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Mylan Specialty L.p. | 1 | $22 |
| Ardelyx, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Phathom Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Hologic Sales And Service, LLC | 1 | $16 |
| Azurity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 1 | $14 |
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.
- FARXIGA$240
- TRELEGY ELLIPTA$230
- AREXVY$114
How this compares
$8,980 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 2,216 internal medicine providers in Tennessee.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| OzempicSemaglutide | 125 | $148,916 |
| EliquisApixaban | 68 | $85,570 |
| JardianceEmpagliflozin | 45 | $68,069 |
| FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol | 56 | $67,282 |
| Trelegy ElliptaFluticasone/Umeclidin/Vilanter | 58 | $54,278 |
| JanuviaSitagliptin Phosphate | 51 | $53,111 |
| MounjaroTirzepatide | 46 | $50,782 |
| EntrestoSacubitril/Valsartan | 32 | $37,637 |
| XareltoRivaroxaban | 31 | $37,595 |
| TrulicityDulaglutide | 28 | $32,532 |
| MyrbetriqMirabegron | 25 | $29,490 |
| LinzessLinaclotide | 35 | $28,832 |
| Tresiba Flextouch U-200Insulin Degludec | 18 | $28,331 |
| Repatha SureclickEvolocumab | 27 | $22,341 |
| TradjentaLinagliptin | 19 | $20,660 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Novo NordiskOzempic | $1,201 | $148,916125 claims |
| Boehringer IngelheimJardiance, Tradjenta, Combivent Respimat, Stiolto Respimat, Spiriva Respimat | $523 | $137,964135 claims |
| PfizerEliquis, Premarin | $811 | $93,42188 claims |
| Lilly USA, LLCMounjaro, Trulicity | $665 | $83,31374 claims |
| GSKTrelegy Ellipta, Breo Ellipta, Anoro Ellipta | $1,026 | $75,89789 claims |
| AstraZenecaFarxiga | $1,289 | $67,28256 claims |
| MerckJanuvia | $161 | $53,11151 claims |
| NovartisEntresto | $224 | $37,63732 claims |
| Johnson & JohnsonXarelto | $194 | $37,59531 claims |
| Astellas Pharma US IncMyrbetriq | $295 | $29,49025 claims |
| AbbVieLinzess | $391 | $28,83235 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 90th percentile of 2,216 internal medicine providers in Tennessee.
Other internal medicine in Nashville
- John AndersonNashville$1.5M
- Nancy DavisNashville$985K
- Wayne RileyNashville$536K
- Paul FerrellNashville$413K
- Cyndya Shibao MiyasatoNashville$364K
- Hilary TindleNashville$337K
- Harvey BowlesNashville$203K
- Jay MontgomeryNashville$174K
- Temidayo AbeNashville$113K
- Nader BahriNashville$105K
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.