Richard Chou, MD
Rheumatology · Palmer, MANPI 1811915911
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $269,075 of the $270,305 with a category attached, or 99.5%. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. accounts for 99.5% of it on its own, with 5 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $186,656 and has fallen 99.9% since, to $270 in 2022. Among rheumatology clinicians in MA with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 74 payments — averaging $3652.76 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.$269K
- GSK$740
- Pfizer$304
- Genentech USA, Inc.$121
- AbbVie$44
- Aurinia Pharma U.S., Inc.$20
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$269,075100%
- Food & beverage$1,0980%
- Education$1320%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. | 44 | $269,075 |
| GSK | 14 | $740 |
| Pfizer | 8 | $304 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 5 | $121 |
| AbbVie | 2 | $44 |
| Aurinia Pharma U.S., Inc. | 1 | $20 |
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.
How this compares
$270,305 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 265 rheumatology providers in Massachusetts.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Amlodipine Besylate | 11 | $32 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other rheumatology in Palmer
- Marilyn PikeBoston$1.4M
- John StoneBoston$926K
- Lee SimonBoston$600K
- Jeffrey SparksBoston$299K
- Ronald RapoportFall River$293K
- Tanya LaidlawBoston$244K
- Tuhina NeogiBoston$242K
- Michael WeinblattBoston$228K
- Thomas GoodmanGroton$211K
- Laura Amorese-O'connellAttleboro$210K
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.