Andrew Shaffer, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Minneapolis, MNNPI 1609039742
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Abbott accounts for 77.5% of it on its own, with 5 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $1,028 and has fallen 71.4% since, to $294 in 2025.
Across 31 payments — averaging $123.15 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Abbott$3K
- Artivion, Inc.$295
- Atricure, Inc.$196
- Picard Medical Inc.$166
- Teleflex LLC$144
- Angiodynamics, Inc.$58
Across 85 payments — averaging $3773.76 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.
- Transmedics, Inc.$201K
- Abbott$93K
- Briohealth Solutions, Inc.$27K
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$1,70145%
- Food & beverage$2,11755%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Abbott | 23 | $2,958 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 2 | $295 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 2 | $196 |
| Picard Medical Inc. | 1 | $166 |
| Teleflex LLC | 1 | $144 |
| Angiodynamics, Inc. | 2 | $58 |
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.
How this compares
$3,818 in reported general payments places this provider in the 60th percentile of 128 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Minnesota.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Minnesota →
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 Minneapolis
- Vinayak BapatMinneapolis$792K
- Benjamin SunMinneapolis$443K
- Nader MoazamiMinneapolis$28K
- Sarah PalmerMinneapolis$28K
- Matthew GraczykMinneapolis$28K
- Amit BhargavaMinneapolis$27K
- Eric AndersonMinneapolis$24K
- Aitua SalamiMinneapolis$14K
- Robert SteffenMinneapolis$9K
- Sebastian Iturra UrriolaMinneapolis$9K
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.