Has Stephen Perkins, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $1,854 in general payments to Stephen Perkins, MD across 58 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Stephen Perkins, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Stephen Perkins, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Stephen Perkins, MD

Retina Specialist · Knoxville, TNNPI 1427054436

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 58 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. 11 manufacturers reported payments, led by Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. at 53.4% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $535, 2.9 times the $185 reported in 2019. That places this record below the midpoint for retina specialist clinicians in TN, where the typical reported total is $3,018.

$1,854in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 58 payments — averaging $31.97 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$989
Regeneron$229
Genentech USA, Inc.$130
Eyepoint US, Inc.$119
Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc.$114
Novartis$78
plus $195 from 5 others

$379,142in research payments, 2019–2025

Across 59 payments — averaging $6426.14 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.

Genentech, Inc.$359K
Astellas Pharma Global Development$20K

What the payments were for

Food & beverage$1,854100%

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
Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	41	$989
Regeneron	3	$229
Genentech USA, Inc.	2	$130
Eyepoint US, Inc.	3	$119
Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc.	1	$114
Novartis	1	$78
Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.	1	$71
Biogen	2	$48
Alimera Sciences, Inc.	2	$37
Alcon	1	$23
Astellas Pharma US Inc	1	$17

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.

EYLEA$114
Lucentis$107

How this compares

$1,854 in reported general payments places this provider in the 35th percentile of 58 retina specialist providers in Tennessee.

See all retina specialist providers in Tennessee →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$4,010,170

Medicare patients

1,036

Services billed

47,817

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
Prednisolone Acetate	76	$3,750
Loteprednol Etabonate	17	$2,375
Neomycin-Polymyxin-DexamethNeomycin/Polymyxin B/Dexametha	184	$2,276
Ketorolac Tromethamine	68	$2,231
Brimonidine Tartrate	102	$1,275
Dorzolamide Hcl	42	$964
Dorzolamide-TimololDorzolamide Hcl/Timolol Maleat	61	$952
Atropine Sulfate	13	$432
Timolol Maleate	48	$393
Latanoprost	20	$387

Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.

Other retina specialist in Knoxville

Nicholas AndersonKnoxville$46K
Timothy StoutKnoxville$13K
Jacob CoxKnoxville$6K
Jonathan FuerstKnoxville$3K
Robert ShulerKnoxville$3K
James MillerKnoxville$3K
Joseph GoogeKnoxville$2K
Ailee LahamKnoxville$2K
Tod McMillanKnoxville$850
Steve CharlesGermantown$5.8M

See the full list for Tennessee →

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.

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