John Nicolau, MD practises Ophthalmology in San Antonio, Texas. Graduated from Texas Tech University Health Science Center School of Medicine in 2003, 23 years ago. Practices with Chu Eye Institute, PA, a 2-clinician group and accepts Medicare assignment. Licensed in Texas.
Years since qualifying
23
Trained at
Texas Tech University Health Science Center School of Medicine
From the CMS Doctors & Clinicians file — this clinician is
enrolled in Medicare.
Medicare specialty
OPHTHALMOLOGY
Medical school
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Graduated
2003 (23 years in practice)
Group practice
Chu Eye Institute, P.A. — 2 clinicians
Accepts Medicare assignment
Yes — accepts the Medicare-approved amount
Procedures
From CMS Care Compare, which counts the procedures a clinician billed to
Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage over a recent 12-month period.
CMS reports a fixed list of common procedures, so this is not everything
the clinician does. Counts of 10 or fewer are given as a range, because
CMS withholds small numbers.
Cataract surgery
30 times · 53rd percentile
The percentile compares how often this clinician performed the procedure
with other clinicians who performed it, as CMS calculates it. It measures
volume, not outcomes or skill.
Payments from drug and device companies, 2025
Drug and device makers are required by federal law (the Physician Payments
Sunshine Act) to report what they pay or give to clinicians, and CMS
publishes the reports as Open Payments. This is the 2025 program
year. A report is a record of a payment, not an allegation of anything,
and many are small items such as meals. Only general payments are listed
here; research payments and ownership or investment interests are
reported separately by CMS and are not shown.
Food and Beverage
$646 18 payments · a meal or drink at a meeting or visit, not a fee
Each amount is the sum of what companies reported for that kind of
payment in 2025, rounded to the dollar. Not all of it is income to
the clinician: a meal is not a fee, a charitable contribution goes to a
charity, and a royalty or an acquisition payment is not a salary.
Check a report, or dispute one, at the source in CMS’s own tool,
Open Payments.
Corrections go through CMS’s dispute process. This site removes a
home address on request and asks for no proof, because that is privacy;
it will not remove an accurate payment report on request, because that is
a statutory public disclosure.
Colleagues at Chu Eye Institute, PA
Clinicians the CMS Doctors & Clinicians file lists under the same group practice.