Chirag Desai, MD
Transplant Surgery · Washington, DCNPI 1992930192
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by travel and lodging: $1,994 of the $2,836 with a category attached, or 70.3%. Transmedics, Inc. accounts for 70.3% of it on its own, with 6 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $2,238 and has fallen 99.2% since, to $19 in 2025.
Across 12 payments — averaging $236.31 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Transmedics, Inc.$2K
- Johnson & Johnson$261
- Acist Medical Systems, Inc.$207
- Medtronic$197
- Dilon Technologies, Inc.$143
- Baxter Healthcare$19
- plus $15 from 1 others
Across 5 payments — averaging $15,337 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.
- Novartis$41K
- Transmedics, Inc.$36K
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$1,99470%
- Food & beverage$82629%
- Education$151%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Transmedics, Inc. | 2 | $1,994 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $261 |
| Acist Medical Systems, Inc. | 2 | $207 |
| Medtronic | 3 | $197 |
| Dilon Technologies, Inc. | 1 | $143 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $19 |
| AbbVie | 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.
- ORGAN CARE SYSTEM$1,994
- HemoBlast Bellows$143
- Echelon Flex$143
- CVI SYSTEMS$122
- Surgicel Powder$118
How this compares
Too few transplant surgery providers in District of Columbiato place this figure against a meaningful peer group, so we don't.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Entecavir | 13 | $335 |
| Gabapentin | 18 | $68 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other transplant surgery in Washington
- Joseph MelanconWashington$237K
- Lynt JohnsonWashington$154K
- Steven PotterWashington$45K
- Jennifer VerbeseyWashington$12K
- Alejandro AquinoWashington$11K
- Alexander KroemerWashington$5K
- Pablo Serrano RodriguezWashington$2K
- Joseph AfricaWashington$1K
- Michelle BuffWashington$1K
- David WallsWashington$552
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.