Charles Lutz, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Syracuse, NYNPI 1477506582
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (48.8%), education and speaking fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 22 manufacturers reported payments, led by Intuitive Surgical at 40.2% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $17,200, more than ten times the $1,515 reported in 2019.
Across 423 payments — averaging $80.01 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$14K
- Medtronic$8K
- Abiomed$5K
- LSI Solutions Inc$2K
- Edwards Lifesciences$2K
- AOP Health US, LLC$1K
- plus $2K from 16 others
Across 8 payments — averaging $7794.38 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$42K
- Atricure, Inc.$20K
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$2,7508%
- Travel & lodging$2,0846%
- Food & beverage$16,51249%
- Education$12,40037%
- Gifts$1000%
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 | 12 | $13,591 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 192 | $8,249 |
| Abiomed | 88 | $4,707 |
| LSI Solutions Inc | 10 | $2,437 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 70 | $1,520 |
| AOP Health US, LLC | 2 | $1,170 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 9 | $874 |
| Abbott | 8 | $404 |
| Medistim USA, Inc. | 2 | $216 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 11 | $202 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 4 | $143 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 3 | $84 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 3 | $64 |
| BD | 1 | $48 |
| Kls-martin L.p. | 1 | $22 |
| Livanova USA, Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, PLC | 1 | $19 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 1 | $16 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 1 | $15 |
| Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corporation | 1 | $12 |
| Philips North America LLC | 1 | $11 |
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$13,515
- Octopus$3,163
- Impella$2,800
- Rapiblyk$2,340
- RAM$2,170
- COR KNOT$2,041
- SE$1,190
- Avalus$826
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$599
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM (CRYO2)$567
- Cardioblate$324
- Penditure$312
- NAVITOR$287
- MiraQ$168
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$166
- Simulus$129
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra Transcatheter Heart Valve$111
- LAX$100
How this compares
$33,846 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 383 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in New York.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in New York →
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 Syracuse
- Anton CherneySyracuse$41K
- Zhandong ZhouSyracuse$35K
- Aubrey GallowayNew York$5.7M
- Gilbert TangNew York$842K
- Michael ZervosNew York$811K
- Israel JacobowitzBrooklyn$529K
- Elias ZiasNew York$465K
- Arthur MartellaRochester$431K
- Isaac GeorgeNew York$395K
- Eugene GrossiNew York$350K
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.