Vena Melendez
Physician Assistant · Mill Creek, WANPI 1245326115
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 97.3% of the total across 354 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 23 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 20.1% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. 2025 is the largest year on record at $2,588, more than ten times the $163 reported in 2021. Among physician assistant clinicians in WA 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 354 payments — averaging $22.63 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AbbVie$2K
- Sanofi$869
- E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C.$787
- Johnson & Johnson$723
- Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.$684
- Incyte Corporation$514
- plus $3K from 17 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$7,79697%
- Education$2163%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AbbVie | 79 | $1,611 |
| Sanofi | 26 | $869 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 35 | $787 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 38 | $723 |
| Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. | 25 | $684 |
| Incyte Corporation | 23 | $514 |
| Novartis | 17 | $411 |
| UCB, Inc. | 17 | $375 |
| Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. | 24 | $372 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 18 | $365 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 11 | $288 |
| Galderma Laboratories, L.p. | 12 | $266 |
| Pfizer | 5 | $143 |
| Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC | 1 | $124 |
| Dermavant Sciences, Inc. | 4 | $104 |
| LEO Pharma Inc. | 4 | $96 |
| Amgen | 5 | $95 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 2 | $56 |
| Organon | 3 | $43 |
| Organogenesis Inc. | 2 | $31 |
| Biofrontera Inc. | 1 | $24 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $16 |
| Krystal Biotech Inc | 1 | $13 |
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.
How this compares
$8,012 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 2,741 physician assistant providers in Washington.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Betamethasone Dipropionate | 35 | $2,000 |
| Clobetasol Propionate | 53 | $1,842 |
| Fluorouracil | 18 | $1,265 |
| Metronidazole | 27 | $1,158 |
| Ketoconazole | 48 | $1,151 |
| Doxycycline Hyclate | 24 | $678 |
| Triamcinolone Acetonide | 58 | $483 |
| Betamethasone Diprop AugmentedBetamethasone/Propylene Glyc | 11 | $430 |
| Fluocinonide | 11 | $382 |
| Hydrocortisone | 21 | $182 |
| MethotrexateMethotrexate Sodium | 12 | $98 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other physician assistant in Mill Creek
- Craig BaugherMill Creek$8K
- Jill KandoraShoreline$437K
- Jeannette HartRichland$263K
- Lance KeckTacoma$162K
- Erinn KingSeattle$129K
- Christy VathSeattle$75K
- Scott TaylorMercer Island$71K
- Gina FragioneGraham$69K
- Regan BrownSpokane$56K
- Justin ChapinSeattle$40K
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.