Edward Cantu, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Lexington, KYNPI 1558528166
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $62,758 of the $73,948 with a category attached, or 84.9%. United Therapeutics Corporation accounts for 88.9% of it on its own, with 3 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $42,330, 9.5 times the $4,439 reported in 2022. Among thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in KY 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 68 payments — averaging $1087.47 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- United Therapeutics Corporation$66K
- CSL Behring$5K
- Xvivo Perfusion Inc.$2K
- Atricure, Inc.$1K
Across 1 payment — averaging $29,870 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.
- Atricure, Inc.$30K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$62,75885%
- Speaking & faculty fees$1,0001%
- Travel & lodging$7,20210%
- Food & beverage$2,9884%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| United Therapeutics Corporation | 51 | $65,707 |
| CSL Behring | 2 | $5,383 |
| Xvivo Perfusion Inc. | 7 | $1,641 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 8 | $1,217 |
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
$73,948 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 98 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Kentucky.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Kentucky →
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 Lexington
- Mansi Shah-JadejaLexington$45K
- Alberto de HoyosLexington$32K
- Theodore WrightLexington$22K
- Hamid MohammadzadehLexington$19K
- Tessa London-BoundsLexington$18K
- Austin WardLexington$18K
- John ChaneyLexington$15K
- Robert MitchellLexington$13K
- Suresh KeshavamurthyLexington$13K
- Shari MeyersonLexington$12K
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.