Patrick Vollmer
Optometrist · Columbia, SCNPI 1952784928
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by speaking fees: $34,813 of the $49,189 with a category attached, or 70.8%. Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. accounts for 86.1% of it on its own, with 11 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $26,515 and has fallen 81.9% since, to $4,809 in 2025. Among optometrist clinicians in SC 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 143 payments — averaging $343.98 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.$42K
- Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$5K
- Alcon$616
- Harrow Eye, LLC$465
- Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC$342
- Novartis$192
- plus $480 from 6 others
Across 116 payments — averaging $15,014 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.
- Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.$866K
- Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$428K
- Alcon Research LLC$299K
- Biotissue Holdings Inc.$112K
- Roche TCRC, Inc.$14K
- AbbVie$8K
- plus $15K from 2 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$3,6007%
- Speaking & faculty fees$34,81371%
- Travel & lodging$6,04412%
- Food & beverage$4,72810%
- Education$50%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. | 76 | $42,358 |
| Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 25 | $4,738 |
| Alcon | 14 | $616 |
| Harrow Eye, LLC | 9 | $465 |
| Bausch & Lomb, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 6 | $342 |
| Novartis | 3 | $192 |
| Oyster Point Pharma, Inc. | 1 | $150 |
| Glaukos Corporation | 4 | $135 |
| Amgen | 2 | $94 |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc. | 1 | $62 |
| Dompe US, Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $13 |
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.
- MIEBO$39,036
- XIIDRA$24,449
- XDEMVY$2,513
- BLINK NUTRITEARS$500
- DOCTORS ALLERGY FORMULA$234
- VYZULTA$232
- TYRVAYA$150
- PROLENSA$124
- ALREX$120
- ZYLET$120
- LOTEMAX SM$120
- LOTEMAX$112
How this compares
$49,189 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 653 optometrist providers in South Carolina.
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 | 228 | $1,594 |
| Neomycin-Polymyxin-DexamethNeomycin/Polymyxin B/Dexametha | 60 | $792 |
| Prednisolone Acetate | 25 | $769 |
| Doxycycline Hyclate | 20 | $599 |
| Timolol Maleate | 57 | $266 |
| Cephalexin | 12 | $56 |
| Prednisone | 12 | $16 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other optometrist in Columbia
- Wayne CannonColumbia$7K
- Nickolas VastisColumbia$7K
- Bradley PowersColumbia$7K
- Dorothy ParkColumbia$6K
- Philip FlynnColumbia$5K
- John BrinkleyColumbia$5K
- Thomas WeshefskyMyrtle Beach$77K
- Richard BedellCharleston$55K
- William ColemanEasley$22K
- Furman SmithMt Pleasant$21K
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.