Ram Sapkota, MD
Cardiovascular Disease · Florence, ALNPI 1205013638
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 355 payments — averaging $30.04 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medtronic$5K
- Abbott$2K
- Johnson & Johnson$858
- Novartis$687
- Pfizer$456
- Amgen$419
- plus $2K from 25 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$3,33531%
- Food & beverage$7,29468%
- Education$360%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Medtronic | 36 | $4,952 |
| Abbott | 76 | $1,648 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 53 | $858 |
| Novartis | 46 | $687 |
| Pfizer | 27 | $456 |
| Amgen | 33 | $419 |
| AstraZeneca | 10 | $318 |
| Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc. | 13 | $220 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 13 | $188 |
| Novo Nordisk | 8 | $148 |
| Abiomed | 2 | $120 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 5 | $80 |
| Merck | 4 | $76 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 4 | $55 |
| Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. | 3 | $46 |
| Lundbeck LLC | 2 | $43 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 2 | $39 |
| United Therapeutics Corporation | 2 | $39 |
| Bayer | 2 | $29 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 2 | $29 |
| Braemar Manufacturing, LLC | 1 | $28 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 1 | $25 |
| Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, PLC | 1 | $25 |
| Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC | 1 | $20 |
| Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Tactile Systems Technology Inc | 1 | $18 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 2 | $17 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $17 |
| Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Vifor Pharma, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Irhythm Technologies, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
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.
- Micra$1,324
- ATTAIN COMMAND + SUREVALVE$185
- ABSOLUTE PRO$154
- MitraClip$128
- THORATEC HEARTMATE 3 LVAS IMPLANT KIT$120
- FARXIGA$110
How this compares
$10,666 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 292 cardiovascular disease providers in Alabama.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| EliquisApixaban | 519 | $507,395 |
| EntrestoSacubitril/Valsartan | 132 | $144,244 |
| FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol | 50 | $51,303 |
| XareltoRivaroxaban | 51 | $47,685 |
| MultaqDronedarone Hcl | 42 | $44,860 |
| BrilintaTicagrelor | 46 | $23,241 |
| Repatha SureclickEvolocumab | 16 | $11,856 |
| Ranolazine ErRanolazine | 84 | $8,785 |
| Repatha SyringeEvolocumab | 11 | $6,053 |
| Flecainide Acetate | 115 | $5,581 |
| Metoprolol Succinate | 332 | $4,762 |
| SotalolSotalol Hcl | 183 | $4,126 |
| Amiodarone Hcl | 41 | $3,958 |
| Prasugrel Hcl | 32 | $3,167 |
| Midodrine Hcl | 56 | $2,920 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| PfizerEliquis | $456 | $507,395519 claims |
| NovartisEntresto | $687 | $144,244132 claims |
| AstraZenecaFarxiga, Brilinta | $318 | $74,54496 claims |
| Johnson & JohnsonXarelto | $858 | $47,68551 claims |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLCMultaq | $55 | $44,86042 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 75th percentile of 292 cardiovascular disease providers in Alabama.
Other cardiovascular disease in Florence
- Ajit NaiduFlorence$66K
- Mustafa AhmedBirmingham$2.5M
- Brian FoleyAlexander City$2.5M
- Andreas MuenchDothan$2M
- Alain BouchardBirmingham$1.9M
- William DavisAuburn$1.7M
- Walter HaughtHuntsville$1.6M
- Christopher BrownMobile$1.4M
- Shi-Chi ChengHuntsville$1.2M
- Mahomed SalameAnniston$1.2M
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.