ASHEBORO, N.C. (ACME NEWS) — In 2024, drug and medical device companies paid healthcare providers in Randolph County over $250,000 for meals, lodging, speaking fees, and more according to federal data.
Since 2010, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act has required pharmaceutical and medical device companies to disclose nearly all financial ties and payments to doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, dentists, and other healthcare providers. The law, passed as part of the Affordable Care Act, created the federal Open Payments database, maintained by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Updated each year, the database is designed to give patients greater transparency into the financial relationships between their doctors and the companies behind the drugs they prescribe.
Seeing your doctor’s name in the Open Payments database doesn’t by itself suggest a conflict. The database includes many types of financial ties, from lunches and travel reimbursements to speaking fees or consulting work. CMS advises that the information can be interpreted in different ways, and the AMA notes that while these relationships aren’t automatically a concern, making them public helps patients ask more informed questions about their care.
Want to see your doctor’s Open Payments record?
You can look up your doctor in the Open Payments database to see if they’ve received meals, travel, speaking fees, or other payments from drug and device companies.
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Randolph County
Randolph County providers were paid a combined $250,516 in 2024. That amount is a small slice, less than one-third of one percent (0.29%), of the $84 million in payments across North Carolina.
How the Money Was Spent
The data shows three categories dominated Randolph County payments:
- Compensation for services ($109,475) – Payments for speaking, consulting, or other professional services made up the largest single share.
- Food and beverages ($97,301) – These often represent sponsored lunches, dinners, or snacks during meetings with drug representatives.
- Travel and lodging ($41,688) – Covers trips to conferences or industry events, sometimes in connection with speaking or consulting engagements.
Smaller categories included education ($1,048), gifts ($728), and consulting fees ($275). This breakdown shows that while some providers were paid for formal industry roles, much of the money still came in the form of day-to-day perks like meals and travel.
Who Received the Money
In Randolph County, Nurse Practitioners received $166,432 in 2024 — about two-thirds of all industry payments. By comparison, medical doctors received $52,086, and physician assistants reported $22,821. Other licensed professionals, including dentists, podiatrists, optometrists, and clinical specialists, together received $9,176.
According to a Harvard Medical School study, nurse practitioners and physician assistants provided about one in four U.S. health care visits in 2019, up from roughly one in seven in 2013. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners also reports the profession has expanded rapidly, growing to 385,000 licensed NPs in 2023, an 8.5 percent increase in a single year. Nurse practitioners are taking on a growing share of patient care nationwide — a trend reflected in how industry payments are distributed locally.
💡 Did You Know?
The United States is one of only two countries — along with New Zealand — that allow drug companies to advertise prescription medications directly to consumers, including on TV.
By City
Almost 80% of payments were concentrated in Asheboro, the county’s seat and home to Randolph Health and several practices and specialists. Randleman, in second place, accounted for only 9% of all payments.
- Asheboro: $25,362
- Randleman: $2,880
- Liberty: $870
- Seagrove: $215
The top recipient in Asheboro was Dr. Eric Jon Kozlow, an Allergy-Immunology/ Internal Medicine with Cone Heath Medical Group in Asheboro who received $17,541. Most of his payments came as compensation for services such as speaking or promotional work, with more than 80% funded by AstraZeneca in support of its asthma drugs like Tezspire.
In Randleman, the leading recipient was Regina F. York (Regina F. Hodge), a NP at Randleman Medical Center, who received $1,310. Her payments were entirely for food and beverage, spread across 66 transactions led by Lilly, AstraZeneca, and Abbott.
Food and beverages, while not the largest category by dollar amount, are the most frequent and widespread type of payment reported both in Randolph County and nationwide, consisting of things like drug company reps buying lunch for an office, coffee at a meeting, or modest meals tied to educational events.
Top Providers
A handful of providers accounted for a disproportionate share of the total. The five largest recipients together received about 12% of all payments in the county:
- Dr. Eric Jon Kozlow, allergist in Asheboro — $17,541
- Frank Matt Murphey Houston Jr., PA-C, dermatology — $5,432
- Dr. Stephen W. Kimmel, dermatologist — $2,388
- Dr. Lynley S. Holt, family physician — $2,097
- Deanna Gay Markham, nurse practitioner — $2,090
The Companies and Drugs
A small number of companies drove most of the spending. Amgen Inc. alone accounted for more than half of the county’s payments ($139,589), followed by AstraZeneca ($23,710) and AbbVie ($13,841).
Top drug-associated payments in Randolph County were linked to Airsupra and Tezspire, both newer asthma treatments. Airsupra, approved in 2023 as the first rescue inhaler to also deliver anti-inflammatory steroids, has been described as a potential “game-changer,” with projected sales between $500 million and $1.8 billion. Tezspire, approved in 2021, has already entered blockbuster territory, with global sales rising from $653 million in 2023 to $1.2 billion in 2024 , according to AstraZeneca’s own 2024 results.
Spending also centered on Mounjaro, a diabetes drug that earned $3.53 billion in 2024, and Vraylar, used for depression and bipolar disorder, with $2.76 billion in 2023 sales (Reuters).
Treatment Areas and Conditions
Payments in Randolph County clustered most heavily in a few key treatment areas:
- Respiratory: $22,775
- Immunology: $12,753
- Diabetes: $10,278
- Neuroscience: $8,597
- Bone Health: $5,155
- Dermatology: $3,994
- Oncology: $3,099
- Obesity: $2,802
- Inflammation: $2,667
- Cardiovascular and Metabolism: $2,505
The drug and condition data taken together mirrors a broader national pattern.
Areas closely tied to chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease — where pharmaceutical companies generate the bulk of their revenue, is unsurprisingly, where they focused their spending. It’s in these categories that companies develop so-called “blockbuster drugs,” treatments that bring in more than $1 billion annually. Examples include Humira, Ozempic, and Eliquis, each among the world’s top sellers.
Why it Matters
Open Payments doesn’t mean your doctor has done anything wrong, but it does shine a light on the financial ties between healthcare providers and the medical and pharmaceutical industry. Research shows those ties can influence prescribing patterns.
According to a 2018 study in BMC Health Services Research, physicians who received industry payments were significantly more likely to prescribe costly brand-name drugs of uncertain medical benefit—even when lower-cost alternatives were available.
For patients, the information is simply a tool: a way to see what’s going on and to ask informed questions if they want to know more.
Note About the Data
The data presented in this article covers payments made to healthcare providers in Asheboro, Franklinville, Liberty, Ramseur, Randleman, Seagrove and Staley drawn from the general payments dataset. This dataset accounts for 26% of all payments and covers items like food, travel, gifts, and speaking fees, but excludes research-related funding and ownership or investment interests, which are reported separately under the Open Payments program. The numbers for Randolph County do not include Archdale and Trinity, which are reported under Guilford County because of their location.
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