Ralph Steele, MD
Pulmonary Disease · Minneapolis, MNNPI 1477573723
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 11 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. 5 manufacturers reported payments, led by Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. at 41.3% of the total. 2023 is the largest year on record at $187, 2.2 times the $86 reported in 2019.
Across 11 payments — averaging $37.39 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Inspire Medical Systems, Inc.$170
- Philips North America LLC$98
- GSK$85
- Boehringer Ingelheim$42
- Advanced Respiratory, Inc$17
Across 117 payments — averaging $2545.46 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.
- Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc.$228K
- Harmony Biosciences LLC$70K
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$411100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. | 1 | $170 |
| Philips North America LLC | 2 | $98 |
| GSK | 5 | $85 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 2 | $42 |
| Advanced Respiratory, Inc | 1 | $17 |
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.
- Inspire$170
How this compares
$411 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 261 pulmonary disease providers in Minnesota.
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 pulmonary disease in Minneapolis
- Marshall HertzMinneapolis$289K
- David IngbarMinneapolis$272K
- Jonathan HovdaMinneapolis$139K
- Hyun KimMinneapolis$77K
- Grady HedstromMinneapolis$50K
- Joseph KeenanMinneapolis$37K
- Mitchell KayeMinneapolis$24K
- Jennifer WongMinneapolis$12K
- Patrick WrightMinneapolis$10K
- Abdallah AbboudMinneapolis$9K
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.