Samuel McElwee
Critical Care Medicine · Birmingham, ALNPI 1528385879
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
6 manufacturers reported payments, led by Abiomed at 49.7% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $1,628 and has fallen 57.6% since, to $690 in 2025.
Across 27 payments — averaging $169.31 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Abiomed$2K
- Boston Scientific$2K
- Inari Medical, Inc.$165
- Penumbra, Inc.$119
- ZOLL Circulation Inc$100
- ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp)$11
Across 59 payments — averaging $2122.09 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.
- Boston Scientific$96K
- Stryker$29K
- Abiomed$118
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$2,71659%
- Food & beverage$1,85541%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Abiomed | 11 | $2,273 |
| Boston Scientific | 9 | $1,903 |
| Inari Medical, Inc. | 3 | $165 |
| Penumbra, Inc. | 1 | $119 |
| ZOLL Circulation Inc | 1 | $100 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 2 | $11 |
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
$4,571 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 73 critical care medicine 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.
Other critical care medicine in Birmingham
- James WellsBirmingham$223K
- Mark DransfieldBirmingham$160K
- George SolomonBirmingham$113K
- Tracy LuckhardtBirmingham$28K
- Keith WilleBirmingham$9K
- Victor ThannickalBirmingham$8K
- Vipul ShahBirmingham$6K
- Nicole SchreinerBirmingham$4K
- David LafonBirmingham$4K
- Dhaval RavalBirmingham$3K
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.