Nicole Stankus
Nephrology · Chicago, ILNPI 1942363452
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by speaking fees: $168,232 of the $234,836 with a category attached, or 71.6%. Bayer accounts for 74.9% of it on its own, with 11 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $101,341 and has fallen 98.3% since, to $1,725 in 2025. Among nephrology clinicians in IL 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 251 payments — averaging $935.60 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Bayer$176K
- GSK$27K
- AstraZeneca$16K
- Rockwell Medical, Inc.$3K
- Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc.$3K
- Vifor Pharma, Inc.$2K
- plus $8K from 6 others
Across 71 payments — averaging $1880.78 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- GSK$112K
- Akebia Therapeutics Inc$19K
- CSL Behring$2K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$45,94420%
- Speaking & faculty fees$168,23272%
- Travel & lodging$15,0246%
- Food & beverage$5,6282%
- Education$90%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bayer | 182 | $175,853 |
| GSK | 17 | $27,390 |
| AstraZeneca(2 entities) | 28 | $15,530 |
| Rockwell Medical, Inc. | 2 | $3,354 |
| Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. | 1 | $2,573 |
| Vifor Pharma, Inc. | 1 | $2,400 |
| Akebia Therapeutics Inc | 2 | $2,382 |
| Merck | 14 | $2,214 |
| Amgen | 1 | $2,000 |
| Fresenius USA Marketing, Inc. | 1 | $1,063 |
| Novartis | 1 | $54 |
| Eurofins Viracor, LLC | 1 | $26 |
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
$234,836 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 524 nephrology providers in Illinois.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Midodrine Hcl | 13 | $3,032 |
| Torsemide | 21 | $481 |
| Chlorthalidone | 27 | $332 |
| Amlodipine Besylate | 37 | $273 |
| Prednisone | 16 | $167 |
| Sulfamethoxazole-TrimethoprimSulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim | 32 | $129 |
| Lisinopril | 13 | $104 |
| Losartan Potassium | 14 | $26 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other nephrology in Chicago
- Myles WolfChicago$2.1M
- Susan QuagginChicago$262K
- Marco BonillaChicago$148K
- Lorenzo GallonChicago$120K
- Vikram AggarwalChicago$117K
- Jay KoynerChicago$113K
- Jose ArrudaChicago$107K
- John FriedewaldChicago$93K
- Casey GashtiChicago$74K
- Amr YafiChicago$71K
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.