Prakash Merai, MD
Psychiatry · Augusta, GANPI 1851488498
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 455 payments — averaging $29.00 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Alkermes, Inc.$3K
- Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.$2K
- Johnson & Johnson$1K
- Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.$1K
- AbbVie$1K
- ITI, Inc. (d/b/a Intra-cellular Therapies, Inc.)$744
- plus $4K from 14 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$12,86097%
- Education$3343%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alkermes, Inc. | 93 | $2,803 |
| Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. | 90 | $2,284 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 47 | $1,419 |
| Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 37 | $1,276 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 55 | $1,032 |
| ITI, Inc. (d/b/a Intra-cellular Therapies, Inc.) | 23 | $744 |
| Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. | 14 | $658 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 11 | $533 |
| Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 26 | $516 |
| Lundbeck LLC | 22 | $504 |
| Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. | 6 | $460 |
| Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 6 | $335 |
| Indivior Inc. | 15 | $296 |
| Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 2 | $149 |
| AstraZeneca | 1 | $50 |
| Bioxcel Therapeutics, Inc. | 2 | $44 |
| Greenwich Biosciences, Inc. | 2 | $34 |
| Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Neurelis, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC | 1 | $14 |
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.
- ARISTADA$2,318
- ARISTADA INITIO$579
- LYBALVI$492
- COBENFY$373
- INGREZZA$362
- CAPLYTA$362
- Austedo XR$354
- ABILIFY MAINTENA$338
- AUSTEDO$332
- Fanapt$254
- REXULTI$235
- Auvelity$233
- Epidiolex$125
- LATUDA$122
- INVEGA SUSTENNA$121
- ABILIFY ASIMTUFII$121
- INVEGA$120
- SPRAVATO$113
- VRAYLAR$112
- UZEDY$112
How this compares
$13,194 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 900 psychiatry 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Invega SustennaPaliperidone Palmitate | 69 | $232,767 |
| UzedyRisperidone | 43 | $166,147 |
| Abilify MaintenaAripiprazole | 47 | $139,485 |
| Invega TrinzaPaliperidone Palmitate | 12 | $132,331 |
| AustedoDeutetrabenazine | 17 | $112,377 |
| AristadaAripiprazole Lauroxil | 27 | $81,728 |
| CaplytaLumateperone Tosylate | 25 | $40,762 |
| RexultiBrexpiprazole | 17 | $22,124 |
| VraylarCariprazine Hcl | 13 | $18,695 |
| Haloperidol Decanoate | 157 | $13,416 |
| Divalproex Sodium ErDivalproex Sodium | 92 | $6,570 |
| Paliperidone ErPaliperidone | 32 | $6,543 |
| Clozapine | 71 | $6,434 |
| Divalproex Sodium | 85 | $5,558 |
| Haloperidol | 92 | $3,474 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Johnson & JohnsonInvega Sustenna, Invega Trinza | $1,419 | $365,09881 claims |
| Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.Uzedy, Austedo | $2,284 | $278,52460 claims |
| Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.Abilify Maintena, Rexulti | $1,276 | $161,60964 claims |
| Alkermes, Inc.Aristada | $2,803 | $81,72827 claims |
| ITI, Inc. (d/b/a Intra-cellular Therapies, Inc.)Caplyta | $744 | $40,76225 claims |
| AbbVieVraylar | $1,032 | $18,69513 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 90th percentile of 900 psychiatry providers in Georgia.
Other psychiatry in Augusta
- Joseph McEvoyAugusta$631K
- Marshall BedderAugusta$182K
- Peter RosenquistAugusta$96K
- William McCallAugusta$72K
- Robert RiesenbergAtlanta$51.1M
- Saundra Maass-RobinsonAtlanta$11.1M
- David PurselleAtlanta$7.4M
- Maria JohnsonDecatur$5.4M
- Bethany DavisAtlanta$4.4M
- Michael BanovMarietta$4.2M
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.