Has Brett Starr, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $95,287 in general payments to Brett Starr, MD across 238 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Brett Starr, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Brett Starr, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Brett Starr, MD

Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Hickory, NCNPI 1538579701

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (51.5%), travel and lodging and speaking fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Atricure, Inc. accounts for 64.8% of it on its own, with 28 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $53,796, more than ten times the $23 reported in 2020. Among thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in NC with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.

$95,287in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 238 payments — averaging $400.36 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Atricure, Inc.$62K
Intuitive Surgical$24K
Edwards Lifesciences$3K
Medtronic$2K
Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$2K
Abiomed$2K
plus $2K from 23 others

What the payments were for

Consulting fees$49,08352%
Speaking & faculty fees$10,50011%
Travel & lodging$22,20523%
Food & beverage$6,5007%
Education$7,0007%

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
Atricure, Inc.	80	$61,771
Intuitive Surgical	39	$23,639
Edwards Lifesciences	18	$2,594
Medtronic	13	$2,005
Medical Device Business Services, Inc.	8	$1,654
Abiomed	27	$1,598
Artivion, Inc.	4	$291
Getinge USA Sales, LLC	12	$278
Johnson & Johnson(2 entities)	8	$252
Cvrx, Inc.	4	$175
Boston Scientific	2	$164
Davol Inc.	2	$137
Terumo Medical Corporation	1	$105
Lucid Diagnostics Inc.	2	$103
Hologic Sales And Service, LLC	2	$81
Biosense Webster, Inc.	1	$72
Cardiva Medical, Inc.	2	$63
Kls-martin L.p.	1	$57
Philips North America LLC	1	$46
Livanova USA, Inc.	2	$28
LSI Solutions Inc	1	$28
Bolton Medical Inc	1	$26
Inspire Medical Systems, Inc.	1	$22
Zimmer Biomet	1	$22
Baxter Healthcare	1	$17
Haemonetics Corporation	1	$16
Biom'up France SAS	1	$15
Medline Industries LP	1	$15
Merit Medical Systems Inc	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$23,145
EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYSTEM WITH VISITRAX$11,815
ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$4,263
SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$3,765
ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$2,856
COREVALVE EVOLUT R$1,675
Echelon Flex$1,584
Impella$873
SAPIEN 3 Ultra RESILIA$216
ON-X AORTIC HEART VALVE WITH CONFORM-X SEWING RING AND EXTENDED HOLDER$167
BIOGLUE SURGICAL ADHESIVE$167
VASCULAR$167
ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM (CRYO2)$155
OPTICROSS$152
Barostim Neo System$123
Progel Applicator Spray Tips$114
MC3 NAUTILUS(TM) ECMO OXYGENATOR$110
ANGIO-SEAL$105

How this compares

$95,287 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 132 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in North Carolina.

See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in North Carolina →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$149,036

Medicare patients

133

Services billed

608

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
Gabapentin	15	$131
ClopidogrelClopidogrel Bisulfate	23	$73
Metoprolol Tartrate	17	$33

Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.

Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Hickory

Joseph RubelowskyRaleigh$2.2M
Matthew HartwigDurham$406K
Gregory SmaroffNew Bern$205K
David HarpoleDurham$177K
Carmelo MilanoLumberton$169K
Walter ChitwoodGreenville$139K
Michael MillChapel Hill$137K
Eric SkipperCharlotte$132K
Thomas D AmicoDurham$94K
Leonard WudelWinston Salem$92K

See the full list for North Carolina →

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.

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