Aaron Kime, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Saint Helena, CANPI 1841635869
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (56.1%), food and beverage and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 21 manufacturers reported payments, led by Surgical Specialties Corporation (US), Inc. (dba Corza Medical) at 47.7% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $7,170 and has fallen 80.9% since, to $1,372 in 2025.
Across 107 payments — averaging $123.03 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Surgical Specialties Corporation (US), Inc. (dba Corza Medical)$6K
- Atricure, Inc.$4K
- Edwards Lifesciences$1K
- Baxter Healthcare$310
- Shockwave Medical, Inc$229
- Abbott$195
- plus $1K from 15 others
Across 1 payment — averaging $10,000 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.
- Pulse Biosciences, Inc.$10K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$7,38856%
- Travel & lodging$1771%
- Food & beverage$5,60043%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Surgical Specialties Corporation (US), Inc. (dba Corza Medical) | 2 | $6,278 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 63 | $3,836 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 12 | $1,165 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 4 | $310 |
| Shockwave Medical, Inc | 1 | $229 |
| Abbott | 1 | $195 |
| Inari Medical, Inc. | 1 | $185 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 2 | $147 |
| Medtronic | 3 | $135 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 1 | $125 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 5 | $125 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 2 | $96 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $89 |
| Irhythm Technologies, Inc. | 1 | $85 |
| Amgen | 2 | $38 |
| Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc. | 1 | $28 |
| Nuwellis, Inc. | 1 | $27 |
| BD | 1 | $21 |
| Elutia, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Kls-martin L.p. | 1 | $16 |
| Bioventus LLC | 1 | $15 |
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.
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$2,120
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$1,200
- ATRICURE SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$542
- MITRIS RESILIA Mitral Valve$254
- Shockwave IVL System with the Shockwave C2 Coronary IVL Catheter$229
- MitraClip$195
- FLOWTRIEVER CATHETER, S$185
- CT THROMBECTOMY SYSTEM KIT$185
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$145
- ATRICURE ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION$138
- INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve$137
- Da Vinci Surgical System$125
- FLOSEAL$124
- Megadyne$119
How this compares
$13,164 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 546 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in California.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in California →
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.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Saint Helena
- Armin KiankhooySaint Helena$941K
- Gansevoort DunningtonSaint Helena$764K
- Thomas FogartyPortola Valley$3.7M
- Steven GundryPalm Springs$1.6M
- Ara KlijianMurrieta$916K
- Gregory FontanaThousand Oaks$875K
- Wilson TsaiWalnut Creek$680K
- Fernando FleischmanLos Angeles$608K
- Harmik SoukiasianLos Angeles$577K
- Ali KhoynezhadLong Beach$476K
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.