Paul Friedlander, MD
Otolaryngology · New Orleans, LANPI 1225050735
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $3,500 of the $5,738 with a category attached, or 61.0%. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 86.2% of it on its own, with 11 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2021 at $4,952 and has fallen 99.5% since, to $26 in 2025.
Across 32 payments — averaging $179.31 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$5K
- Olympus America Inc.$168
- Aerin Medical Inc.$125
- Medtronic$120
- Merck$112
- Intersect ENT, Inc.$99
- plus $171 from 6 others
Across 1 payment — averaging $105.93 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.
- Merck$106
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$1,43125%
- Food & beverage$80714%
- Education$3,50061%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Surgical | 10 | $4,943 |
| Olympus America Inc. | 2 | $168 |
| Aerin Medical Inc. | 1 | $125 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $120 |
| Merck | 7 | $112 |
| Intersect ENT, Inc. | 1 | $99 |
| Eisai Inc. | 4 | $72 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 2 | $37 |
| Tesaro, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 1 | $20 |
| Bristol Myers Squibb | 1 | $12 |
| Ambu Inc. | 1 | $9 |
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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$4,893
- Vivaer RF Stylus$125
- PROPEL$120
How this compares
$5,738 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 218 otolaryngology 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Levothyroxine Sodium | 11 | $99 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other otolaryngology in New Orleans
- Donald GonzalesNew Orleans$351K
- Edward McCoulNew Orleans$92K
- Rohan WalvekarNew Orleans$21K
- Jonathan OwensNew Orleans$7K
- Grayson GremillionNew Orleans$4K
- Newland WorleyNew Orleans$4K
- Jacqueline MagneNew Orleans$3K
- Kevin McLaughlinCovington$186K
- Adil FatakiaMarrero$148K
- Michael YimShreveport$77K
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.