Ronald Lester, MD
Internal Medicine · Grapevine, TXNPI 1942229539
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 48 payments — averaging $28.60 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AstraZeneca$550
- Novo Nordisk$138
- Nevro Corp.$130
- Sage Therapeutics, LLC$103
- Dexcom, Inc.$57
- Antares Pharma, Inc.$54
- plus $341 from 15 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$1,373100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AstraZeneca | 13 | $550 |
| Novo Nordisk | 7 | $138 |
| Nevro Corp. | 3 | $130 |
| Sage Therapeutics, LLC | 1 | $103 |
| Dexcom, Inc. | 3 | $57 |
| Antares Pharma, Inc. | 3 | $54 |
| Abbott | 2 | $41 |
| Pfizer | 2 | $40 |
| Medtronic | 2 | $34 |
| Si-bone, Inc. | 1 | $30 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 1 | $28 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 1 | $23 |
| Fidia Pharma USA Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $17 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 1 | $16 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 1 | $16 |
| GSK | 1 | $16 |
| Merck | 1 | $16 |
| Amgen | 1 | $16 |
| AbbVie | 1 | $14 |
| Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 1 | $13 |
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
$1,373 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 7,675 internal medicine 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 |
|---|---|---|
| OzempicSemaglutide | 81 | $89,063 |
| JardianceEmpagliflozin | 65 | $57,750 |
| EliquisApixaban | 43 | $54,927 |
| FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol | 21 | $22,141 |
| Trelegy ElliptaFluticasone/Umeclidin/Vilanter | 23 | $17,416 |
| JanuviaSitagliptin Phosphate | 22 | $14,865 |
| Breztri AerosphereBudesonide/Glycopyr/Formoterol | 23 | $13,867 |
| MounjaroTirzepatide | 14 | $13,096 |
| Janumet XrSitagliptin Phos/Metformin Hcl | 11 | $4,921 |
| Lisdexamfetamine Dimesylate | 12 | $2,214 |
| Albuterol Sulfate HfaAlbuterol Sulfate | 48 | $2,105 |
| Duloxetine Hcl | 58 | $2,011 |
| Rosuvastatin Calcium | 122 | $1,676 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 38 | $1,614 |
| Acetaminophen-CodeineAcetaminophen With Codeine | 74 | $1,490 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Novo NordiskOzempic | $138 | $89,06381 claims |
| PfizerEliquis | $40 | $54,92743 claims |
| AstraZenecaFarxiga, Breztri Aerosphere | $550 | $36,00844 claims |
| MerckJanuvia, Janumet Xr | $16 | $19,78533 claims |
| GSKTrelegy Ellipta | $16 | $17,41623 claims |
| Lilly USA, LLCMounjaro | $16 | $13,09614 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 70th percentile of 7,675 internal medicine providers in Texas.
Other internal medicine in Grapevine
- Jan BurgerHouston$47.3M
- Nitin JainHouston$33.2M
- Muhammad IrfanTomball$30.6M
- Aung NaingHouston$30.6M
- Robert BassSan Antonio$25.6M
- Preetesh JainHouston$19.5M
- Paolo StratiHouston$19.2M
- Hernan SalazarSan Antonio$18.5M
- Nicholas ShortHouston$17.6M
- Salma SaigerMesquite$16.1M
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.