Benny Weksler, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Pittsburgh, PANPI 1780803999
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 366 payments — averaging $4066.68 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Merck$961K
- AstraZeneca$127K
- Genentech, Inc.$108K
- Astrazeneca UK Limited$88K
- Atricure, Inc.$80K
- E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C.$80K
- plus $44K from 14 others
Across 1 payment — averaging $13,350 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.
- Medtronic$13K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$37,05823%
- Speaking & faculty fees$90,06056%
- Travel & lodging$10,0956%
- Food & beverage$11,8627%
- Education$11,5007%
- Gifts$2040%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Merck | 62 | $961,178 |
| AstraZeneca | 89 | $126,991 |
| Genentech, Inc. | 52 | $108,293 |
| Astrazeneca UK Limited | 6 | $88,190 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 8 | $80,125 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 8 | $80,113 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 63 | $22,619 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 8 | $10,957 |
| Medtronic | 34 | $5,789 |
| Johnson & Johnson(3 entities) | 8 | $2,061 |
| Covidien LP | 11 | $576 |
| Pinnacle Biologics, Inc | 6 | $453 |
| Pulmonx Corporation | 2 | $338 |
| BD | 1 | $179 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 2 | $140 |
| Novocure Inc. | 1 | $129 |
| Olympus America Inc. | 2 | $109 |
| Davol Inc. | 1 | $90 |
| Ambu Inc. | 1 | $59 |
| Stryker | 1 | $16 |
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.
- TAGRISSO$52,267
- IMFINZI$40,487
- Da Vinci Surgical System$18,608
- DA VINCI SP$3,000
- ECHELON FLEX Stapler$1,635
- LINX Reflux Management System$1,171
- KEYTRUDA$980
- Signia$677
- LigaSure$523
- CHARTIS CATHETER$338
- ZEPHYR DELIVERY CATHETER$338
- ZEPHYR ENDOBRONCHIAL VALVE$338
- PULMONX CHARTIS TABLET CONSOLE$338
- Photofrin$224
- MONARCH$186
- Surgiphor$179
- EleVision$159
- ENDO GIA ULTRA$156
- Sonicision$149
- MATRIXRIB$141
How this compares
$1,488,404 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 314 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Pennsylvania.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Pennsylvania →
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 Pittsburgh
- Stephen BaileyPittsburgh$1.3M
- Walter McGregorPittsburgh$715K
- Inderpal SarkariaPittsburgh$248K
- Nicholas BakerPittsburgh$169K
- Pietro BajonaPittsburgh$147K
- David KaczorowskiPittsburgh$126K
- Rajeev DhuparPittsburgh$69K
- Robert MoracaPittsburgh$67K
- Robert KormosPittsburgh$58K
- Hiroyuki TsukuiPittsburgh$45K
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.