Aaron Cernero, DO
Surgery · Denison, TXNPI 1194767350
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (51.2%), travel and lodging and education — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 67.7% of it on its own, with 28 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $3,308 and has fallen 90.9% since, to $300 in 2025.
Across 100 payments — averaging $56.52 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$4K
- Integra Lifesciences Corporation$302
- Baxter Healthcare$199
- Conmed Corporation$185
- Johnson & Johnson$161
- Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.$142
- plus $837 from 23 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$1,51027%
- Food & beverage$2,89651%
- Education$1,00018%
- Other$2464%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Surgical | 28 | $3,826 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 4 | $302 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 9 | $199 |
| Conmed Corporation | 1 | $185 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 6 | $161 |
| Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 9 | $142 |
| Davol Inc. | 6 | $121 |
| TELA Bio, Inc. | 5 | $94 |
| Currax Pharmaceuticals LLC | 5 | $71 |
| Medtronic | 3 | $54 |
| Cumberland Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2 | $48 |
| Biotissue Holdings Inc. | 2 | $47 |
| Acell, Inc. | 2 | $40 |
| AbbVie | 2 | $40 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 1 | $36 |
| KCI USA, Inc. | 2 | $33 |
| Innovation Technologies Inc | 1 | $31 |
| Echosens North America, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $22 |
| Solventum Corporation | 1 | $22 |
| Novo Nordisk | 1 | $21 |
| Shire North American Group Inc | 1 | $20 |
| Teleflex LLC | 1 | $18 |
| Lilly USA, LLC | 1 | $18 |
| Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Reprise Biomedical, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Mimedx Group, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Levita Magnetics International Corp. | 1 | $15 |
| Covidien LP | 1 | $11 |
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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$3,438
- AIRSEAL$185
- ACell$184
How this compares
$5,652 in reported general payments places this provider in the 60th percentile of 1,830 surgery providers in Texas.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| OzempicSemaglutide | 14 | $13,789 |
| Ondansetron OdtOndansetron | 91 | $1,345 |
| Naltrexone Hcl | 25 | $1,071 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 71 | $619 |
| Bupropion XlBupropion Hcl | 44 | $490 |
| Famotidine | 30 | $318 |
| Pantoprazole Sodium | 17 | $164 |
| Topiramate | 13 | $35 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Novo NordiskOzempic | $21 | $13,78914 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 60th percentile of 1,830 surgery providers in Texas.
Other surgery in Denison
- Michael HarkinsTomball$2.7M
- Douglas StoddardAustin$1.4M
- Steven FassAustin$989K
- Vineet ChoudhryAustin$851K
- Andy HawthorneRound Rock$843K
- Nancy MarquezAustin$700K
- Sachin KukrejaDallas$640K
- Alejandro EsquivelAustin$631K
- Erik WilsonBellaire$610K
- Folahan AyoolaDenton$570K
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.