Brian Lima, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Nashville, TNNPI 1669649703
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (51.2%), speaking fees and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 23 manufacturers reported payments, led by Abiomed at 45.5% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $10,876 and has fallen 97.2% since, to $306 in 2025.
Across 132 payments — averaging $137.22 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Abiomed$8K
- Paragonix Technologies, Inc.$4K
- Abbott$3K
- Medtronic$1K
- Atricure, Inc.$898
- Getinge USA Sales, LLC$427
- plus $1K from 17 others
Across 29 payments — averaging $16,165 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.
- Abbott$469K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$5003%
- Speaking & faculty fees$7,75043%
- Travel & lodging$5803%
- Food & beverage$9,28251%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Abiomed | 33 | $8,240 |
| Paragonix Technologies, Inc. | 7 | $3,539 |
| Abbott | 34 | $2,906 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 17 | $1,006 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 9 | $898 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 6 | $427 |
| Cvrx, Inc. | 4 | $197 |
| Livanova USA, Inc. | 1 | $156 |
| Novartis | 1 | $125 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 1 | $122 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 3 | $96 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 3 | $72 |
| Kls-martin L.p. | 1 | $58 |
| Davol Inc. | 2 | $49 |
| Werfen USA LLC | 1 | $39 |
| Corcym Inc | 1 | $30 |
| Teleflex LLC | 2 | $28 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 1 | $25 |
| La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company | 1 | $24 |
| Biom'up France SAS | 1 | $23 |
| Grifols USA, LLC | 1 | $20 |
| Stryker | 1 | $18 |
| Pylant Medical | 1 | $15 |
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.
- Paragonix SherpaPak Cardiac Transport System$8,992
- Impella$7,673
- SherpaCool Box$743
- HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Assist Device$713
- LUNGguard$707
- CTS Canister Box$622
- HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Dev$573
- 2ND GEN CENTRIMAG PRIMARY CONSOLE$411
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$391
- EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYSTEM WITH VISITRAX$335
- THORATEC HEARTMATE 3 LVAS IMPLANT KIT$283
- HeartString III Proximal Seal$231
- LifeSPARC System$156
- CentriMag$155
- COREVALVE EVOLUT R$154
- Barostim Neo System$148
- Cobalt$148
- Avalus$147
- HeartWare HVAD$133
- SherpaPak$127
How this compares
$18,113 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 115 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Tennessee.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Tennessee →
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 Nashville
- Grayson WheatleyNashville$900K
- V ReddyNashville$760K
- Clayton KaiserNashville$124K
- Sreekumar SubramanianNashville$98K
- Erin GillaspieNashville$95K
- Amber EdwardsNashville$83K
- Caitlin DemarestNashville$33K
- Henry ToddNashville$28K
- Swaroop BommareddiNashville$26K
- Ali IrshadNashville$20K
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.