Daniel Beckles, PhD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Lake Charles, LANPI 1548464837
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (30.7%), speaking fees and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Nuwellis, Inc. accounts for 63.9% of it on its own, with 36 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $23,831 and has fallen 86.8% since, to $3,145 in 2025. Among thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in LA with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 273 payments — averaging $291.30 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Nuwellis, Inc.$51K
- Intuitive Surgical$9K
- Edwards Lifesciences$6K
- Atricure, Inc.$4K
- Abbott$2K
- Abiomed$1K
- plus $6K from 31 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$16,65021%
- Speaking & faculty fees$19,11824%
- Travel & lodging$13,80617%
- Food & beverage$24,43731%
- Education$5,5007%
- Gifts$150%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nuwellis, Inc. | 53 | $50,848 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 29 | $8,959 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 27 | $5,981 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 28 | $3,846 |
| Abbott | 27 | $2,482 |
| Abiomed | 19 | $1,368 |
| Biotronik Inc. | 13 | $1,256 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 20 | $889 |
| BD | 2 | $838 |
| Medistim USA, Inc. | 8 | $441 |
| Heartflow, Inc. | 3 | $375 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 5 | $299 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 2 | $255 |
| ZOLL Circulation Inc | 2 | $219 |
| AstraZeneca | 3 | $186 |
| Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corporation | 1 | $150 |
| La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company | 2 | $143 |
| Boston Scientific | 2 | $133 |
| Silk Road Medical, Inc. | 1 | $129 |
| Merck | 1 | $115 |
| Livanova USA, Inc. | 3 | $92 |
| Amgen | 4 | $85 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $83 |
| Pylant Medical | 1 | $68 |
| Potrero Medical, Inc. | 1 | $35 |
| Biomerieux Inc | 2 | $30 |
| Biostable Science & Engineering | 1 | $29 |
| Portola Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 2 | $28 |
| Pfizer | 2 | $24 |
| Kls-martin L.p. | 1 | $24 |
| Clearflow Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Cvrx, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 1 | $15 |
| ALON Medical Technology | 1 | $14 |
| Convatec Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 1 | $9 |
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.
- AQUADEX SMARTFLOW CONSOLE$26,452
- Aquadex$23,650
- DAVINCI XI$5,500
- Da Vinci Surgical System$3,152
- EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYSTEM WITH VISITRAX$2,079
- Carpentier-Edwards PERIMOUNT Magna Mitral Ease Pericardial Valve$1,978
- EDWARDS INTUITY Elite valve system$1,223
- Mitra Clip system$1,197
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$822
- Impella$715
- BioMonitor$610
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$584
- Rivacor$484
- Edora$484
- Acticor$484
- Solia$484
- FFRct$375
- COREVALVE EVOLUT R$280
- ENROUTE Transcarotid Neuroprotection System$258
- Edora 8 DR-T$251
How this compares
$79,526 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 75 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Louisiana.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Louisiana →
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 Lake Charles
- Joseph LugoLake Charles$4K
- Richard GitterMetairie$1.5M
- Emily CassidyBaton Rouge$1.3M
- David AllieLafayette$666K
- Vern KellerLafayette$394K
- Aditya BansalNew Orleans$140K
- Nicholas LeblancBaton Rouge$70K
- Sarah AhmadMonroe$58K
- Imtiaz KhanBaton Rouge$42K
- Robert DewittAlexandria$38K
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.