Stephen Liu, MD
Emergency Medicine · Los Angeles, CANPI 1083666259
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — travel and lodging (54.1%), food and beverage and speaking fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Penumbra, Inc. accounts for 88.0% of it on its own, with 7 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $1,847, more than ten times the $166 reported in 2019. Among emergency medicine clinicians in CA 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 20 payments — averaging $196.06 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Penumbra, Inc.$3K
- AstraZeneca$121
- Merck$119
- Brainscope Company, Inc.$115
- Novartis$42
- AbbVie$33
- plus $39 from 2 others
Across 5 payments — averaging $29,912 each. An ownership or investment interest held by the physician or an immediate family member.
- Brainscope Company, Inc.$150K
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$251%
- Travel & lodging$2,12154%
- Food & beverage$1,77545%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Penumbra, Inc. | 11 | $3,450 |
| AstraZeneca | 1 | $121 |
| Merck | 1 | $119 |
| Brainscope Company, Inc. | 1 | $115 |
| Novartis | 2 | $42 |
| AbbVie | 2 | $33 |
| Instrumentation Laboratory Company | 1 | $25 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $14 |
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.
- Indigo System$3,439
- ANDEXXA$121
- ZERBAXA$119
- BrainScope One$115
How this compares
$3,921 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 6,006 emergency medicine providers in California.
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 emergency medicine in Los Angeles
- Christopher PeabodyLos Angeles$163K
- Samuel BeckermanLos Angeles$81K
- Bharat KothakotaLos Angeles$51K
- Jay LeeLos Angeles$20K
- Anna Ryabets-LienhardLos Angeles$16K
- Michael BlueLone Pine$915K
- Andrew AccardiEncinitas$383K
- Fredrick Melik-AbrahamianSylmar$354K
- Graham WalkerStanford$309K
- Douglas WhiteOakland$220K
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.