Ulrich Starke, MD
Internal Medicine · Covington, LANPI 1114907300
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 356 payments — averaging $17.04 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Novo Nordisk$804
- Pfizer$628
- AstraZeneca$564
- Boehringer Ingelheim$555
- Lilly USA, LLC$553
- Amgen$504
- plus $2K from 29 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$6,065100%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Novo Nordisk | 45 | $804 |
| Pfizer | 36 | $628 |
| AstraZeneca | 33 | $564 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 37 | $555 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 30 | $553 |
| Amgen | 32 | $504 |
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 22 | $388 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 14 | $229 |
| Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc. | 14 | $213 |
| Abbott | 11 | $199 |
| Bayer | 9 | $191 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 13 | $169 |
| Merck | 8 | $133 |
| Idorsia Pharmaceuticals US Inc | 8 | $129 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 6 | $108 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 8 | $106 |
| Exact Sciences | 3 | $85 |
| Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc. | 3 | $59 |
| Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2 | $52 |
| Dexcom, Inc. | 3 | $47 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 3 | $46 |
| GSK | 2 | $40 |
| Antares Pharma, Inc. | 2 | $39 |
| Intra-sana Laboratories | 1 | $27 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 1 | $27 |
| Halozyme Inc | 1 | $24 |
| Itamar Medical Inc | 1 | $24 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $20 |
| Nevro Corp. | 1 | $20 |
| ITI, Inc. (d/b/a Intra-cellular Therapies, Inc.) | 1 | $16 |
| Gilead | 1 | $15 |
| Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 1 | $14 |
| Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Sanofi Pasteur Inc. | 1 | $13 |
How this compares
$6,065 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 1,528 internal medicine providers in Louisiana.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| JardianceEmpagliflozin | 57 | $57,772 |
| MounjaroTirzepatide | 36 | $55,168 |
| RybelsusSemaglutide | 42 | $50,825 |
| EliquisApixaban | 38 | $33,453 |
| OzempicSemaglutide | 29 | $32,685 |
| JanuviaSitagliptin Phosphate | 30 | $26,300 |
| TrulicityDulaglutide | 13 | $12,071 |
| MyrbetriqMirabegron | 19 | $10,107 |
| FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol | 11 | $7,208 |
| Lantus SolostarInsulin Glargine,hum.Rec.Anlog | 25 | $2,894 |
| SynthroidLevothyroxine Sodium | 35 | $2,718 |
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 233 | $2,399 |
| Valsartan | 78 | $2,302 |
| Rosuvastatin Calcium | 200 | $2,173 |
| Levothyroxine Sodium | 225 | $2,051 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Novo NordiskRybelsus, Ozempic | $804 | $83,51171 claims |
| Lilly USA, LLCMounjaro, Trulicity | $553 | $67,23949 claims |
| Boehringer IngelheimJardiance | $555 | $57,77257 claims |
| PfizerEliquis | $628 | $33,45338 claims |
| MerckJanuvia | $133 | $26,30030 claims |
| Astellas Pharma US IncMyrbetriq | $229 | $10,10719 claims |
| AstraZenecaFarxiga | $564 | $7,20811 claims |
| AbbVieSynthroid | $388 | $2,71835 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 85th percentile of 1,528 internal medicine providers in Louisiana.
Other internal medicine in Covington
- Tania LeviCovington$471K
- Rachael MurphyCovington$268K
- Bruce SamuelsCovington$200K
- Frank VoelkerCovington$164K
- David TranCovington$32K
- William SmithNew Orleans$50.5M
- Robert JeanfreauMetairie$13.4M
- Katherine PearceBaton Rouge$12M
- Ernest ThompsonBaker$2.1M
- Brian LewisNew Orleans$2M
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.