Rakel Astorga, MD
Surgery · Hudson, NYNPI 1831345693
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (51.9%), travel and lodging and education — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 14 manufacturers reported payments, led by Elucent Medical at 57.1% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $1,240, 4.3 times the $288 reported in 2019.
Across 40 payments — averaging $43.35 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Elucent Medical$991
- Merck$205
- Astellas Pharma US Inc$171
- Boston Scientific$66
- Intuitive Surgical$60
- Antares Pharma, Inc.$46
- plus $196 from 8 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$81947%
- Food & beverage$90052%
- Education$151%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Elucent Medical | 4 | $991 |
| Merck | 10 | $205 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 10 | $171 |
| Boston Scientific | 2 | $66 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 1 | $60 |
| Antares Pharma, Inc. | 2 | $46 |
| Stryker | 3 | $43 |
| Smith+Nephew | 2 | $35 |
| Covidien LP | 1 | $29 |
| Vertex | 1 | $24 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $20 |
| Abbott | 1 | $16 |
| AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| AbbVie | 1 | $13 |
How this compares
$1,734 in reported general payments places this provider in the 55th percentile of 1,596 surgery providers in New York.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nystatin | 11 | $81 |
| Cephalexin | 12 | $78 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 18 | $59 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in Hudson
- Cheguevara AfanehNew York$1.4M
- Flavio Malcher Martins de OliveiraNew York$695K
- Yuri NovitskyNew York$548K
- Rasa ZarnegarNew York$478K
- Tanuja DamaniNew York$459K
- Benjamin SadowitzSyracuse$419K
- Stephen GoldstoneNy$386K
- Rache SimmonsNew York$371K
- George DenotoManhasset$333K
- Marina KurianNew York$328K
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.