Austen Hufton, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Louisville, KYNPI 1174938310
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $11,500 of the $16,396 with a category attached, or 70.1%. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 78.8% of it on its own, with 9 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $7,714 and has fallen 96.8% since, to $246 in 2025.
Across 57 payments — averaging $287.64 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$13K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$1K
- Zimmer Biomet$791
- Medtronic$714
- Atricure, Inc.$497
- Edwards Lifesciences$271
- plus $176 from 4 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$2,56716%
- Food & beverage$2,32914%
- Education$11,50070%
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 | 17 | $12,923 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 7 | $1,023 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 12 | $791 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 11 | $714 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 4 | $497 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 2 | $271 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $107 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $34 |
| Abbott | 1 | $21 |
| AbbVie | 1 | $13 |
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$8,654
- ION$3,000
- DAVINCI XI$1,000
- ECHELON FLEX Stapler$960
- HARMONIC Product Family$960
- Surgicel Powder$960
- Signia$588
- AdvantageRib$542
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$302
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$175
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM (CRYO2)$175
- INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve$146
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve$125
- TISSEEL$107
- RIBFIX BLU ADVANTAGE$107
How this compares
$16,396 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 98 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Kentucky.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oxycodone Hcl | 35 | $188 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 14 | $98 |
| Celecoxib | 11 | $63 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Louisville
- Steven PetersonLouisville$283K
- Mark SlaughterLouisville$39K
- Sebastian PagniLouisville$28K
- George MikosLouisville$19K
- Steven EtochLouisville$17K
- David RosenbaumLouisville$14K
- Matthew FoxLouisville$12K
- Siddharth PahwaLouisville$11K
- Angela MahanLouisville$9K
- Yash VaidyaLouisville$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.