David Sternberg, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Detroit, MINPI 1306002266
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — education (53.2%), travel and lodging and food and beverage — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 64.3% of it on its own, with 5 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2024 is the largest year on record at $9,189, more than ten times the $223 reported in 2019.
Across 26 payments — averaging $397.47 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$7K
- Noah Medical Corporation$3K
- Johnson & Johnson$920
- Polarityte, Inc.$189
- Dendreon Pharmaceuticals LLC$20
- ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp)$15
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$4,38742%
- Food & beverage$4134%
- Education$5,50053%
- Gifts$340%
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 | 9 | $6,645 |
| Noah Medical Corporation | 3 | $2,547 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 11 | $920 |
| Polarityte, Inc. | 1 | $189 |
| Dendreon Pharmaceuticals LLC | 1 | $20 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$6,586
- GALAXY$2,531
- Monarch Platform$689
- SkinTE$189
How this compares
$10,334 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 182 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Michigan.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Michigan →
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 Detroit
- Raed AlnajjarDetroit$781K
- Zane HammoudDetroit$208K
- Sanjay BatraDetroit$84K
- Kyle MileticDetroit$22K
- Hassan NemehDetroit$22K
- Omar HabibDetroit$20K
- Fouad AzouryDetroit$20K
- Steven BollingAnn Arbor$41.7M
- Gorav AilawadiAnn Arbor$434K
- Reza DabirDearborn$342K
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.