Rafael Esquenazi, MD
Nephrology · Houston, TXNPI 1982609111
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 78 payments — averaging $18.55 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Akebia Therapeutics Inc$433
- Amgen$337
- AstraZeneca$290
- Vifor Pharma, Inc.$135
- Fresenius USA Marketing, Inc.$110
- Bayer$64
- plus $78 from 3 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$1,43899%
- Education$91%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Akebia Therapeutics Inc | 23 | $433 |
| Amgen(2 entities) | 19 | $337 |
| AstraZeneca | 15 | $290 |
| Vifor Pharma, Inc. | 7 | $135 |
| Fresenius USA Marketing, Inc. | 7 | $110 |
| Bayer | 3 | $64 |
| Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 2 | $44 |
| Mallinckrodt Enterprises LLC | 1 | $17 |
| Calliditas Therapeutics US Inc. | 1 | $17 |
How this compares
$1,447 in reported general payments places this provider in the 45th percentile of 1,070 nephrology providers in Texas.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sevelamer Carbonate | 67 | $21,262 |
| ProsolParenteral Amino Acid 20% No.1 | 48 | $8,967 |
| Calcium Acetate | 65 | $4,658 |
| Nifedipine ErNifedipine | 15 | $401 |
| Gabapentin | 28 | $172 |
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 19 | $167 |
| Omeprazole | 12 | $164 |
| Carvedilol | 15 | $131 |
| Metoprolol Succinate | 12 | $127 |
| Hydralazine Hcl | 13 | $117 |
| Amlodipine Besylate | 11 | $76 |
| Furosemide | 13 | $23 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other nephrology in Houston
- Sreedhar MandayamHouston$7M
- Marializa BernardoHouston$4.2M
- Stephen FademHouston$2.4M
- Biruh WorkenehHouston$1.8M
- Rahul PandeyHouston$1.6M
- Christopher KwohHouston$928K
- George NassarHouston$772K
- June YaoHouston$651K
- Maher BisharaHouston$489K
- Wolfgang WinkelmayerHouston$462K
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.