Myriam Vela-Ortiz, MD
Nephrology · Carrollton, GANPI 1306187570
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 353 payments — averaging $20.14 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AstraZeneca$1K
- OPKO Pharmaceuticals, LLC$973
- Amgen$831
- Bayer$778
- Vifor Pharma, Inc.$490
- Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.$472
- plus $2K from 25 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$6,27888%
- Education$83212%
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(2 entities) | 51 | $1,121 |
| OPKO Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 60 | $973 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 41 | $831 |
| Bayer | 52 | $778 |
| Vifor Pharma, Inc. | 19 | $490 |
| Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 29 | $472 |
| Fresenius USA Marketing, Inc. | 12 | $328 |
| Novartis | 12 | $246 |
| Novo Nordisk | 11 | $236 |
| Calliditas Therapeutics US Inc. | 10 | $209 |
| Akebia Therapeutics Inc | 11 | $205 |
| GSK | 7 | $198 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 8 | $165 |
| Vantive US Healthcare LLC | 1 | $149 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $111 |
| Travere Therapeutics, Inc. | 8 | $100 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 2 | $80 |
| Daiichi Sankyo Inc. | 4 | $79 |
| Nxstage Medical, Inc. | 1 | $72 |
| Chiesi USA, Inc. | 1 | $36 |
| Shire North American Group Inc | 2 | $32 |
| Ardelyx, Inc. | 1 | $28 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 1 | $24 |
| Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $24 |
| Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $20 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 1 | $19 |
| Cormedix Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Aurinia Pharma U.S., Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. | 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.
- Renal - PD$149
- Veltassa$122
- LOKELMA$120
How this compares
$7,110 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 388 nephrology providers in Georgia.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol | 126 | $101,697 |
| OzempicSemaglutide | 85 | $82,887 |
| LokelmaSodium Zirconium Cyclosilicate | 58 | $53,004 |
| XphozahTenapanor Hcl | 15 | $49,510 |
| RayaldeeCalcifediol | 21 | $30,256 |
| TrulicityDulaglutide | 24 | $29,476 |
| KerendiaFinerenone | 28 | $26,914 |
| JanuviaSitagliptin Phosphate | 33 | $25,379 |
| JardianceEmpagliflozin | 17 | $22,188 |
| Sevelamer Carbonate | 42 | $17,681 |
| ProsolParenteral Amino Acid 20% No.1 | 91 | $15,338 |
| Potassium Citrate ErPotassium Citrate | 14 | $2,368 |
| Potassium Chloride | 151 | $2,303 |
| Calcium Acetate | 25 | $2,298 |
| Torsemide | 103 | $1,679 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AstraZenecaFarxiga, Lokelma | $1,121 | $154,701184 claims |
| Novo NordiskOzempic | $236 | $82,88785 claims |
| OPKO Pharmaceuticals, LLCRayaldee | $973 | $30,25621 claims |
| Lilly USA, LLCTrulicity | $19 | $29,47624 claims |
| BayerKerendia | $778 | $26,91428 claims |
| Boehringer IngelheimJardiance | $165 | $22,18817 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 75th percentile of 388 nephrology providers in Georgia.
Other nephrology in Carrollton
- James TumlinLawrenceville$19.8M
- Chinedu NwekeAcworth$3.9M
- Vinayak RamanathLagrange$3.1M
- Harold HubertAugusta$2.8M
- Tamorie SmithColumbus$1.9M
- Barton BrezinaAugusta$1.5M
- Frederic Rahbari OskouiAtlanta$1.5M
- Rajeev ChauhanColumbus$1.1M
- Sagar PanseMacon$1.1M
- Laura MulloyAugusta$891K
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.