Wajih Askar, MD
Infectious Disease · Cincinnati, OHNPI 1619408648
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 14 payments — averaging $31.33 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Astellas Pharma US Inc$146
- Janssen Products, LP$99
- Viiv Healthcare Company$66
- AbbVie$46
- Melinta Therapeutics, LLC$36
- Pfizer$24
- plus $23 from 1 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$25057%
- Education$18943%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 4 | $146 |
| Janssen Products, LP | 1 | $99 |
| Viiv Healthcare Company | 3 | $66 |
| AbbVie | 2 | $46 |
| Melinta Therapeutics, LLC | 2 | $36 |
| Pfizer | 1 | $24 |
| Gilead | 1 | $23 |
How this compares
$439 in reported general payments places this provider in the 55th percentile of 308 infectious disease providers in Ohio.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Daptomycin | 30 | $13,198 |
| ErtapenemErtapenem Sodium | 11 | $4,162 |
| CeftriaxoneCeftriaxone Sodium | 21 | $1,193 |
| Cefazolin Sodium | 15 | $1,078 |
| Fluconazole | 17 | $1,000 |
| Doxycycline Hyclate | 13 | $320 |
| Amoxicillin | 13 | $85 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other infectious disease in Cincinnati
- Carl FichtenbaumCincinnati$1.6M
- Moises Huaman JooCincinnati$1.2M
- John CafardiCincinnati$719K
- Judith FeinbergCincinnati$113K
- Silvania NgCincinnati$33K
- Scott FriedstromCincinnati$15K
- Senu ApewokinCincinnati$11K
- Joseph KlingenCincinnati$7K
- Francisco Fernandez-GonzalezCincinnati$7K
- Robert SalataCleveland$2.8M
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.