Christopher Higgins, MD
Cardiovascular Disease · Tulsa, OKNPI 1417123274
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 443 payments — averaging $28.52 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Boston Scientific$3K
- Medtronic$2K
- Esperion Therapeutics, Inc.$722
- Abbott$698
- AstraZeneca$690
- Abiomed$628
- plus $5K from 34 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$2,41419%
- Food & beverage$10,21981%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Scientific | 30 | $2,923 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 91 | $2,161 |
| Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. | 31 | $722 |
| Abbott | 37 | $698 |
| AstraZeneca | 39 | $690 |
| Abiomed | 19 | $628 |
| Angiodynamics, Inc. | 1 | $485 |
| Heartflow, Inc. | 5 | $410 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 23 | $358 |
| Novartis | 25 | $348 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 6 | $340 |
| Merck | 15 | $272 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 20 | $269 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 14 | $252 |
| Amgen | 12 | $240 |
| Cardinal Health 200 LLC | 8 | $204 |
| Cvrx, Inc. | 3 | $189 |
| Shockwave Medical, Inc | 1 | $173 |
| Terumo Medical Corporation | 9 | $156 |
| GE HealthCare | 2 | $125 |
| Teleflex LLC | 7 | $105 |
| Pfizer | 6 | $100 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 5 | $99 |
| Kestra Medical Technology Services, Inc. | 4 | $96 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 5 | $93 |
| Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc. | 3 | $80 |
| Inari Medical, Inc. | 2 | $79 |
| Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 3 | $58 |
| Cardiovascular Systems Inc. | 3 | $43 |
| Zynex Medical, Inc. | 1 | $36 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 2 | $34 |
| Cordis US CORP. | 2 | $32 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 2 | $26 |
| Scpharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 1 | $20 |
| Gilead | 1 | $16 |
| Cook Medical LLC | 1 | $15 |
| Chiesi USA, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Impulse Dynamics (USA) Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| Biomerieux Inc | 1 | $8 |
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.
How this compares
$12,633 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 164 cardiovascular disease providers in Oklahoma.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| EliquisApixaban | 171 | $161,752 |
| BrilintaTicagrelor | 86 | $56,949 |
| XareltoRivaroxaban | 27 | $35,798 |
| FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol | 32 | $32,788 |
| EntrestoSacubitril/Valsartan | 36 | $28,763 |
| Ezetimibe | 338 | $11,672 |
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 392 | $7,319 |
| VascepaIcosapent Ethyl | 12 | $4,804 |
| ClopidogrelClopidogrel Bisulfate | 313 | $4,626 |
| Rosuvastatin Calcium | 88 | $2,188 |
| Prasugrel Hcl | 12 | $2,008 |
| Metoprolol Succinate | 107 | $1,748 |
| Amiodarone Hcl | 62 | $852 |
| Potassium Chloride | 39 | $689 |
| Pravastatin Sodium | 24 | $488 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Companies that both paid and supply prescribed drugs
These companies both reported payments to this provider and make drugs the provider prescribed under Medicare Part D in 2024. For most specialties this overlap is expected — a cardiologist who is paid by a cardiology drugmaker also treats heart disease. It is shown so the reader can see it, not because it implies anything on its own.
| Company | Paid to this provider | Part D cost of their drugs |
|---|---|---|
| PfizerEliquis | $100 | $161,752171 claims |
| AstraZenecaBrilinta, Farxiga | $690 | $89,737118 claims |
| Johnson & JohnsonXarelto | $93 | $35,79827 claims |
| NovartisEntresto | $348 | $28,76336 claims |
Reading this fairly. The Part D column is what drug plans and patients paid pharmacies — this provider received none of it, and it reflects how many patients they treat and what those drugs cost. Against peers, this provider's reported payments sit in the 80th percentile of 164 cardiovascular disease providers in Oklahoma.
Other cardiovascular disease in Tulsa
- Eric AuerbachTulsa$636K
- Nicholas HannaTulsa$446K
- Frank GaffneyTulsa$243K
- Ravi KodeTulsa$169K
- David WilkettTulsa$104K
- Zainal HussainTulsa$101K
- Mohamad KhattabTulsa$47K
- Alan KaneshigeTulsa$46K
- Steve KimTulsa$38K
- Thomas KalapuraTulsa$36K
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.