Aurora Cruz, MD
Neurological Surgery · Louisville, KYNPI 1063874170
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $5,053 of the $6,375 with a category attached, or 79.3%. It is spread thinly across 26 manufacturers, the largest accounting for just 20.1% — the pattern of someone who eats at a lot of different presentations. 2025 is the largest year on record at $3,249, more than ten times the $158 reported in 2021.
Across 92 payments — averaging $69.29 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medtronic$1K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$1K
- Stryker$679
- Microvention, Inc.$547
- Route 92 Medical, Inc.$473
- Irras USA, Inc.$432
- plus $2K from 20 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$3005%
- Travel & lodging$1,02316%
- Food & beverage$5,05379%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Medtronic | 16 | $1,279 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 13 | $1,123 |
| Stryker | 8 | $679 |
| Microvention, Inc. | 19 | $547 |
| Route 92 Medical, Inc. | 3 | $473 |
| Irras USA, Inc. | 1 | $432 |
| Penumbra, Inc. | 2 | $301 |
| Scientia Vascular | 1 | $300 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 3 | $295 |
| Contego Medical, Inc | 2 | $250 |
| Silk Road Medical, Inc. | 2 | $201 |
| Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 4 | $102 |
| Vertos Medical, Inc. | 1 | $64 |
| UCB, Inc. | 2 | $52 |
| Novartis | 3 | $51 |
| AstraZeneca | 2 | $35 |
| Arbor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Vertex | 1 | $24 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $22 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Argenx US, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Imperative Care, Inc | 1 | $17 |
| AbbVie | 1 | $16 |
| TG Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Eisai Inc. | 1 | $14 |
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.
- TRUFILL$816
- Embotrap$266
- ENDOSKELETON TL NANOLOCK SURFACE TECHNOLOGY$263
- MIDAS REX$252
- 8F Base Camp Sheath System$245
- SPINEJACK$228
- Pipeline$220
- WEB Aneurysm Embolization System$181
- TARGET$168
- TREVO$168
- Penumbra System$162
- RED 72$139
- ENROUTE Transcarotid Neuroprotection System$110
- ENROUTE Transcarotid Stent$110
- STEALTHSTATION S8 PLATFORM$108
How this compares
$6,375 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 99 neurological surgery providers in Kentucky.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Meloxicam | 19 | $28 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other neurological surgery in Louisville
- Tom YaoLouisville$405K
- Joseph NeimatLouisville$196K
- Maria KoutourousiouLouisville$189K
- Shervin DashtiLouisville$146K
- Shawn AdamsLouisville$73K
- Nathaniel ToopLouisville$56K
- Thomas AltstadtLouisville$36K
- Brian WilliamsLouisville$33K
- Ajmal ZemmarLouisville$32K
- Redi RahmaniLouisville$29K
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.