Thomas McElwee
Surgery · Charlotte, NCNPI 1790761310
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 100.0% of the total across 46 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. It is spread thinly across 28 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 11.8% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $416 and has fallen 94.7% since, to $22 in 2024. That places this record below the midpoint for surgery clinicians in NC, where the typical reported total is $1,719.
Across 46 payments — averaging $22.94 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Biocompatibles, Inc.$124
- Davol Inc.$97
- Incyte Corporation$96
- AbbVie$87
- Medtronic$63
- Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc.$56
- plus $532 from 22 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$1,055100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Biocompatibles, Inc. | 1 | $124 |
| Davol Inc. | 3 | $97 |
| Incyte Corporation | 4 | $96 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 4 | $87 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 4 | $63 |
| Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. | 2 | $56 |
| Sanofi | 2 | $53 |
| Merck | 2 | $48 |
| Surmodics, Inc. | 2 | $41 |
| Cook Medical LLC | 2 | $38 |
| Peerless Surgical Inc. | 1 | $38 |
| CSL Behring | 2 | $37 |
| Portola Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 1 | $31 |
| Eisai Inc. | 2 | $27 |
| G1 Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $20 |
| Tersera Therapeutics LLC | 1 | $20 |
| Innocoll Pharmaceuticals Limited | 1 | $18 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $18 |
| Exelixis Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Mozarc Medical US LLC | 1 | $16 |
| Seagen Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Pharmacosmos Therapeutics Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Northgate Technologies, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $11 |
| Cardiovascular Systems Inc. | 1 | $10 |
| Kerecis Limited | 1 | $9 |
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.
- VARITHENA$124
How this compares
$1,055 in reported general payments places this provider in the 40th percentile of 970 surgery providers in North Carolina.
Other surgery in Charlotte
- Brant HenifordCharlotte$831K
- Vedra AugensteinCharlotte$789K
- John MartinieCharlotte$712K
- David IannittiCharlotte$360K
- Gregory StanleyCharlotte$304K
- Erin BakerCharlotte$221K
- John GreenCharlotte$202K
- Bradley ThomasCharlotte$162K
- Keith GersinCharlotte$80K
- Timothy KuwadaCharlotte$69K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.