Sean Tao
Rheumatology · Houston, TXNPI 1932163813
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 411 payments — averaging $18.62 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Amgen$2K
- AbbVie$985
- Pfizer$805
- AstraZeneca$686
- Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc.$543
- Johnson & Johnson$372
- plus $2K from 22 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$7,53098%
- Education$1212%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Amgen(2 entities) | 123 | $2,414 |
| AbbVie | 58 | $985 |
| Pfizer | 53 | $805 |
| AstraZeneca | 39 | $686 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 23 | $543 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 19 | $372 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 13 | $269 |
| Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 9 | $160 |
| Aurinia Pharma U.S., Inc. | 7 | $159 |
| GSK | 8 | $148 |
| Novartis | 6 | $144 |
| Bristol Myers Squibb | 11 | $123 |
| Fidia Pharma USA Inc. | 6 | $113 |
| Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA | 5 | $100 |
| Mallinckrodt Enterprises LLC | 5 | $93 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 5 | $88 |
| UCB, Inc. | 3 | $76 |
| Bioventus LLC | 4 | $76 |
| Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC | 3 | $75 |
| Sandoz | 2 | $48 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 2 | $36 |
| Kyowa Kirin, Inc. | 1 | $27 |
| Sanofi | 1 | $25 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 1 | $25 |
| Avanos Medical | 1 | $19 |
| Medinc Of Texas | 1 | $17 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 1 | $14 |
| Radius Health, Inc. | 1 | $11 |
How this compares
$7,652 in reported general payments places this provider in the 55th percentile of 512 rheumatology 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Humira(Cf) PenAdalimumab | 99 | $731,427 |
| Enbrel SureclickEtanercept | 70 | $561,142 |
| RinvoqUpadacitinib | 33 | $276,669 |
| Cosentyx Sensoready PenSecukinumab | 18 | $211,022 |
| Enbrel MiniEtanercept | 28 | $210,686 |
| Orencia ClickjectAbatacept | 26 | $148,832 |
| BenlystaBelimumab | 24 | $124,766 |
| OtezlaApremilast | 22 | $106,087 |
| Xeljanz XrTofacitinib Citrate | 18 | $96,304 |
| Humira(Cf)Adalimumab | 11 | $88,401 |
| ProliaDenosumab | 27 | $45,077 |
| Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate | 439 | $19,459 |
| Mycophenolate Mofetil | 76 | $19,418 |
| MethotrexateMethotrexate Sodium | 386 | $8,554 |
| Leflunomide | 113 | $5,431 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AbbVieRinvoq, Humira(Cf) | $985 | $365,07044 claims |
| AmgenOtezla, Prolia | $2,414 | $151,16449 claims |
| GSKBenlysta | $148 | $124,76624 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 55th percentile of 512 rheumatology providers in Texas.
Other rheumatology in Houston
- Philip WallerHouston$4.9M
- Qaiser RehmanHouston$2.3M
- Michelle EisenbergHouston$1.8M
- Abigail NeimanHouston$1.7M
- Maureen MayesHouston$1.6M
- Wajeeha YousafHouston$1.3M
- Laila HassanHouston$870K
- Shervin AssassiHouston$667K
- Jacqueline VoHouston$520K
- Naureen AlimHouston$397K
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.