Cristian Baeza, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Cleveland, OHNPI 1407310006
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (53.3%), speaking fees and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 29 manufacturers reported payments, led by Paragonix Technologies, Inc. at 46.0% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $96,106 and has fallen 62.7% since, to $35,834 in 2025. Among thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in OH with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 648 payments — averaging $365.69 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Paragonix Technologies, Inc.$109K
- Medtronic$81K
- Edwards Lifesciences$17K
- Lemaitre Vascular, Inc.$11K
- Atricure, Inc.$3K
- W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.$3K
- plus $12K from 23 others
Across 12 payments — averaging $18,891 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.
- Corcym Inc$221K
- Abbott$5K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$126,40053%
- Speaking & faculty fees$60,69826%
- Travel & lodging$28,16312%
- Food & beverage$21,4769%
- Education$1980%
- Entertainment$330%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Paragonix Technologies, Inc. | 20 | $109,000 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 351 | $80,685 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 62 | $17,137 |
| Lemaitre Vascular, Inc. | 19 | $11,328 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 33 | $3,256 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 18 | $3,061 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 23 | $2,774 |
| Corcym Inc | 23 | $2,721 |
| Boston Scientific | 12 | $2,049 |
| Abiomed | 15 | $1,443 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 9 | $931 |
| Abbott | 11 | $564 |
| Cook Medical LLC | 5 | $497 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 10 | $277 |
| Livanova USA, Inc. | 6 | $265 |
| Johnson & Johnson(3 entities) | 9 | $258 |
| Stryker | 4 | $180 |
| Hemosonics LLC | 1 | $108 |
| Clearflow Inc. | 1 | $98 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 3 | $82 |
| Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corporation | 2 | $50 |
| Teleflex LLC | 2 | $42 |
| Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc. | 1 | $33 |
| Argentum Medical | 2 | $33 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 2 | $26 |
| LSI Solutions Inc | 1 | $23 |
| Avanos Medical | 1 | $18 |
| Haemonetics Corporation | 1 | $15 |
| Pfizer | 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.
- COREVALVE EVOLUT R$37,141
- CoreValve Evolut$31,006
- Paragonix SherpaPak Cardiac Transport System$19,500
- SherpaCool Box$19,500
- CTS Canister Box$19,500
- ARTEGRAFT VASCULAR GRAFT$10,500
- INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve$2,341
- Perceval$2,235
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$2,098
- Impella$1,114
- MITRIS RESILIA Mitral Valve$1,100
- Cardiac non-SynerGraft$966
- GORE TAG Thoracic Endoprosthesis$948
- Avalus$937
- GORE TAG Thoracic Branch Endoprosthesis$896
- AMDS-Ascyrus Medical$804
- GORE TAG Conformable Thoracic Endoprosthesis$785
- APOLLOTM$722
- Valiant Captivia$714
- Octopus$538
How this compares
$236,967 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 245 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Ohio.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Ohio →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Warfarin Sodium | 12 | $60 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Cleveland
- Alejandro BribriescoCleveland$968K
- Alan Marc GillinovCleveland$926K
- Edward SolteszCleveland$835K
- Salil DeoCleveland$419K
- Tomislav MihaljevicCleveland$387K
- Christopher ToweCleveland$370K
- Eric RoselliCleveland$253K
- Zhen-Yu TongCleveland$222K
- Sudish MurthyCleveland$120K
- Pablo Ruda VegaCleveland$98K
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.