Vijay Rao, MD
Hematology & Oncology · Watertown, SDNPI 1982725180
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (56.6%), food and beverage and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. It is spread thinly across 60 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 20.9%. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $7,574 and has fallen 60.2% since, to $3,012 in 2025.
Across 284 payments — averaging $91.88 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Novartis$5K
- Gilead$5K
- AstraZeneca$5K
- E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C.$2K
- Boehringer Ingelheim$2K
- AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$1K
- plus $6K from 54 others
Across 10 payments — averaging $2292.22 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- Incyte Corporation$15K
- Puma Biotechnology, Inc.$8K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$14,77857%
- Speaking & faculty fees$4502%
- Travel & lodging$3,46313%
- Food & beverage$6,77426%
- Education$6302%
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.
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
$26,094 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 28 hematology & oncology providers in South Dakota.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| XtandiEnzalutamide | 51 | $709,186 |
| OjjaaraMomelotinib Dihydrochloride | 12 | $683,203 |
| KisqaliRibociclib Succinate | 14 | $235,536 |
| ImbruvicaIbrutinib | 12 | $198,727 |
| Abiraterone Acetate | 44 | $90,729 |
| Hydroxyurea | 64 | $1,241 |
| Anastrozole | 78 | $846 |
| Letrozole | 31 | $455 |
| Prednisone | 60 | $322 |
| Acyclovir | 32 | $271 |
| Prochlorperazine Maleate | 18 | $164 |
| Ondansetron Hcl | 28 | $138 |
| Sulfamethoxazole-TrimethoprimSulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim | 19 | $90 |
| Gabapentin | 16 | $25 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Astellas Pharma US IncXtandi | $81 | $709,18651 claims |
| GSKOjjaara | $106 | $683,20312 claims |
| NovartisKisqali | $5,463 | $235,53614 claims |
| Pharmacyclics LLC, An Abbvie CompanyImbruvica | $213 | $198,72712 claims |
| Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLCAbiraterone Acetate | $275 | $90,72944 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 28 hematology & oncology providers in South Dakota.
Other hematology & oncology in Watertown
- Bipinkumar AminWatertown$292K
- Ferdinand AddoWatertown$663
- Kelly McCaulSioux Falls$1.2M
- Roberto Ferro ValdesSioux Falls$142K
- Waqas JehangirSioux Falls$23K
- Steven PowellSioux Falls$13K
- Benjamin SolomonSioux Falls$5K
- James KuzmanRapid City$2K
- Miroslaw MazurczakSioux Falls$2K
- Mark HuberSioux Falls$1K
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.