Steve Charles, MD
Retina Specialist · Germantown, TNNPI 1861495780
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by royalties or licence payments: $5,074,601 of the $5,799,925 with a category attached, or 87.5%. Alcon accounts for 76.0% of it on its own, with 24 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $1,213,406 and has fallen 52.3% since, to $578,846 in 2025. Among retina specialist clinicians in TN 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 393 payments — averaging $14,758 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Alcon$4.4M
- Alcon Research LLC$1.2M
- Alcon Pharmaceuticals Ltd$165K
- Optovue, Inc.$35K
- Novartis$8K
- Visionix USA, Inc$4K
- plus $4K from 19 others
Across 287 payments — averaging $15,363 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.
- Novartis$2.2M
- Genentech, Inc.$1.6M
- Bayer$250K
- Regeneron$208K
- Eyepoint US, Inc.$132K
- Alcon Research LLC$51K
- plus $5K from 1 others
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$5,074,60187%
- Consulting fees$592,27710%
- Speaking & faculty fees$40,7001%
- Travel & lodging$80,8781%
- Food & beverage$11,4690%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alcon | 132 | $4,407,278 |
| Alcon Research LLC | 176 | $1,177,139 |
| Alcon Pharmaceuticals Ltd | 2 | $164,601 |
| Optovue, Inc. | 1 | $35,000 |
| Novartis | 16 | $8,142 |
| Visionix USA, Inc | 1 | $3,780 |
| Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision, Inc. | 2 | $1,581 |
| Alcon Grieshaber AG | 3 | $413 |
| Genentech, Inc. | 5 | $370 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 8 | $313 |
| Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 10 | $304 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 7 | $246 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 8 | $160 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 5 | $138 |
| Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. | 5 | $118 |
| F. Hoffmann-la Roche AG | 1 | $71 |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc. | 1 | $70 |
| Boston Scientific | 2 | $44 |
| Regeneron | 2 | $38 |
| Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. | 1 | $24 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 1 | $22 |
| ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Vyera Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 1 | $21 |
| Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Coherus Oncology, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
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.
- Constellation$373,129
- Luxor$157,389
- NGENUITY$129,497
- Unity$49,032
- Solix System$35,000
- Alcon Greishaber Finesse$15,750
- BEOVU$7,739
- Centurion$5,356
- Solix$3,780
- Tecnis Symfony IOL$1,500
- FINESSE SHARKSKIN$611
- EYLEA$206
- Alcon Closure Systems$179
- Non-Covered Product$167
- VABYSMO$133
- LenSx$132
- BUPARLISIB$122
- AcrySof IQ VIVITY$114
- AcrySof IQ PanOptix$110
- SUSVIMO$104
How this compares
$5,799,925 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 58 retina specialist providers in Tennessee.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ProlensaBromfenac Sodium | 29 | $14,426 |
| Prednisolone Acetate | 264 | $12,644 |
| LumiganBimatoprost | 15 | $9,030 |
| Brimonidine Tartrate | 107 | $8,885 |
| Alphagan PBrimonidine Tartrate | 17 | $8,507 |
| Dorzolamide-TimololDorzolamide Hcl/Timolol Maleat | 370 | $6,221 |
| Travoprost | 30 | $3,419 |
| Latanoprost | 278 | $2,616 |
| Difluprednate | 14 | $1,380 |
| Dorzolamide-TimololDorzolamide/Timolol/Pf | 12 | $1,127 |
| Tobramycin | 160 | $844 |
| Ketorolac Tromethamine | 17 | $656 |
| Dorzolamide Hcl | 32 | $601 |
| Timolol Maleate | 34 | $376 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AbbVieLumigan, Alphagan P | $138 | $17,53732 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 95th percentile of 58 retina specialist providers in Tennessee.
Other retina specialist in Germantown
- Salar RafieetaryGermantown$37K
- Stephen HuddlestonGermantown$31K
- Scott SullivanGermantown$5K
- David FingerhutGermantown$4K
- Kyle VinsonGermantown$2K
- Wesley GilletteGermantown$1K
- Carl AwhNashville$1.3M
- Peter SonkinNashville$949K
- Brandon BusbeeNashville$566K
- Eric SchneiderNashville$134K
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.