Peter Merkel, MD
Rheumatology · Radnor, PANPI 1437136173
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $444,464 of the $479,144 with a category attached, or 92.8%. 27 manufacturers reported payments, led by Astrazeneca UK Limited at 25.2% of the total. Among rheumatology clinicians in PA 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 232 payments — averaging $2065.28 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Astrazeneca UK Limited$121K
- NS Pharma, Inc.$97K
- AstraZeneca$67K
- Amgen$33K
- Novartis Pharma AG$21K
- Bristol Myers Squibb$20K
- plus $120K from 21 others
Across 83 payments — averaging $70,813 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$2.7M
- AstraZeneca$2.2M
- AbbVie$403K
- E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C.$336K
- Genentech, Inc.$76K
- Sanofi US Services Inc.$59K
- plus $71K from 5 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$444,46493%
- Speaking & faculty fees$13,1103%
- Travel & lodging$19,0504%
- Food & beverage$2,4661%
- Education$550%
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 UK Limited | 36 | $120,943 |
| NS Pharma, Inc. | 15 | $96,717 |
| AstraZeneca(2 entities) | 40 | $67,308 |
| Amgen | 26 | $32,928 |
| Novartis Pharma AG | 5 | $20,808 |
| Bristol Myers Squibb | 8 | $20,059 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 20 | $18,293 |
| CSL Behring | 6 | $13,446 |
| Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. | 9 | $12,988 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 11 | $11,926 |
| Astrazeneca AB | 5 | $10,034 |
| Argenx US, Inc. | 6 | $9,675 |
| Sanofi | 3 | $7,635 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH | 8 | $5,574 |
| AbbVie | 2 | $4,900 |
| Novartis | 1 | $4,200 |
| F. Hoffmann-la Roche AG | 3 | $4,064 |
| Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. | 2 | $3,640 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 3 | $3,575 |
| GSK | 14 | $3,145 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 1 | $3,000 |
| Regeneron | 3 | $1,668 |
| Eli Lilly | 1 | $1,200 |
| Jubilant Therapeutics Inc | 1 | $825 |
| EMD Serono, Inc. | 1 | $530 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $55 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 1 | $10 |
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
$479,144 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 351 rheumatology providers in Pennsylvania.
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.
Other rheumatology in Radnor
- Alan EpsteinPhiladelphia$1.2M
- Lawrence LeventhalHuntingdon Valley$1.1M
- Alan KivitzDuncansville$936K
- Paula HerringNewtown Square$920K
- Rohit AggarwalPittsburgh$810K
- Frederick MurphyDuncansville$494K
- Martin BergmanRidley Park$458K
- Alexis Ogdie-BeattyPhiladelphia$433K
- Ellen FieldBethlehem$418K
- David BulbinDanville$379K
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.