Syed Alam, MD
Rheumatology · The Woodlands, TXNPI 1396179677
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 35 payments — averaging $20.54 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Amgen$233
- AbbVie$126
- GSK$77
- Novo Nordisk$76
- Johnson & Johnson$51
- Lilly USA, LLC$36
- plus $120 from 6 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$61786%
- Education$10214%
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 | 10 | $233 |
| AbbVie | 6 | $126 |
| GSK | 3 | $77 |
| Novo Nordisk | 5 | $76 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 3 | $51 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 2 | $36 |
| Kyowa Kirin, Inc. | 1 | $24 |
| Insmed, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Sandoz | 1 | $22 |
| Exact Sciences | 1 | $19 |
| AstraZeneca | 1 | $17 |
| Merck | 1 | $14 |
How this compares
$719 in reported general payments places this provider in the 20th 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Taltz AutoinjectorIxekizumab | 13 | $88,462 |
| Orencia ClickjectAbatacept | 13 | $71,985 |
| Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate | 236 | $11,715 |
| Leflunomide | 61 | $8,473 |
| Sulfasalazine DrSulfasalazine | 100 | $4,427 |
| Mycophenolate Mofetil | 27 | $3,195 |
| MethotrexateMethotrexate Sodium | 110 | $2,802 |
| Pilocarpine Hcl | 22 | $1,472 |
| Prednisone | 106 | $695 |
| Methylprednisolone | 101 | $564 |
| Azathioprine | 12 | $553 |
| Allopurinol | 41 | $485 |
| Alendronate Sodium | 47 | $432 |
| Celecoxib | 43 | $373 |
| Folic Acid | 37 | $363 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other rheumatology in The Woodlands
- Tamar BrionezThe Woodlands$5.2M
- Paul PickrellAustin$40.9M
- Atul SinghalMesquite$13.9M
- Shaikh AliTomball$9.8M
- Jitendra VasandaniLubbock$6.4M
- Dhiman BasuColleyville$6.2M
- Philip WallerHouston$4.9M
- John CushDallas$3.9M
- Sabeen NajamBaytown$3.6M
- Sanjay ChabraEl Paso$3.6M
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.