Thomas Fortson, MD
Pulmonary Disease · Columbus, GANPI 1588950596
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 389 payments — averaging $30.68 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$4K
- GSK$2K
- Boehringer Ingelheim$1K
- AstraZeneca$1K
- Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc.$478
- Insmed, Inc.$468
- plus $3K from 31 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$9978%
- Food & beverage$7,84866%
- Education$3,09126%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Surgical | 9 | $4,093 |
| GSK | 90 | $1,695 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 58 | $1,083 |
| AstraZeneca | 53 | $1,006 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 22 | $478 |
| Insmed, Inc. | 24 | $468 |
| Grifols USA, LLC | 24 | $431 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 14 | $393 |
| Sanofi | 12 | $298 |
| Amgen | 13 | $291 |
| Mylan Specialty L.p. | 12 | $217 |
| United Therapeutics Corporation | 8 | $214 |
| Inogen, Inc. | 7 | $187 |
| Harmony Biosciences LLC | 4 | $124 |
| Asensus Surgical, Inc. | 1 | $100 |
| Circassia Inc. | 5 | $91 |
| ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 4 | $90 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 3 | $77 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 1 | $75 |
| Shire North American Group Inc | 3 | $56 |
| Mallinckrodt Enterprises LLC | 2 | $49 |
| Advanced Respiratory, Inc | 2 | $42 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 2 | $42 |
| Tactile Systems Technology Inc | 1 | $37 |
| Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Inc | 1 | $33 |
| La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company | 2 | $31 |
| Verona Pharma, Inc. | 1 | $28 |
| Merck | 2 | $28 |
| Philips North America LLC | 1 | $26 |
| Pfizer | 1 | $23 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $22 |
| Veran Medical Technologies, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Novartis | 1 | $18 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Resmed Corp | 1 | $16 |
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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$3,978
How this compares
$11,935 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 365 pulmonary disease providers in Georgia.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| OfevNintedanib Esylate | 39 | $512,316 |
| Trelegy ElliptaFluticasone/Umeclidin/Vilanter | 425 | $310,044 |
| Anoro ElliptaUmeclidinium Brm/Vilanterol Tr | 223 | $119,227 |
| NucalaMepolizumab | 26 | $92,836 |
| Fasenra PenBenralizumab | 15 | $82,846 |
| Breztri AerosphereBudesonide/Glycopyr/Formoterol | 104 | $80,454 |
| Stiolto RespimatTiotropium Br/Olodaterol Hcl | 95 | $73,315 |
| Spiriva RespimatTiotropium Bromide | 32 | $22,704 |
| SymbicortBudesonide/Formoterol Fumarate | 57 | $16,409 |
| Albuterol Sulfate HfaAlbuterol Sulfate | 472 | $13,994 |
| Advair HfaFluticasone Propion/Salmeterol | 19 | $11,668 |
| Spiriva HandihalerTiotropium Bromide | 13 | $11,526 |
| Arnuity ElliptaFluticasone Furoate | 41 | $9,928 |
| Fluticasone-SalmeterolFluticasone Propion/Salmeterol | 62 | $6,578 |
| BreynaBudesonide/Formoterol Fumarate | 21 | $5,917 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Boehringer IngelheimOfev, Stiolto Respimat, Spiriva Respimat | $1,083 | $608,335166 claims |
| GSKTrelegy Ellipta, Anoro Ellipta, Nucala, Arnuity Ellipta, Breo Ellipta | $1,695 | $536,413726 claims |
| AstraZenecaBreztri Aerosphere, Symbicort | $1,006 | $96,862161 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 70th percentile of 365 pulmonary disease providers in Georgia.
Other pulmonary disease in Columbus
- Jai SuranaColumbus$49K
- Maria MascoloRincon$2.7M
- Chad MillerAustell$2M
- Amy CaseAustell$1.5M
- Srihari VeeraraghavanAtlanta$1.3M
- Jose MedinaValdosta$1.3M
- Micah FisherAtlanta$1.2M
- Frances LeeAtlanta$1.2M
- Vijay PatelNewnan$1.1M
- Lawrence McDermottSavannah$963K
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.