Has Eric Skipper, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $132,258 in general payments to Eric Skipper, MD across 323 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Eric Skipper, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Eric Skipper, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Eric Skipper, MD

Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Charlotte, NCNPI 1972616175

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

This record is dominated by consulting fees: $92,456 of the $132,258 with a category attached, or 69.9%. 19 manufacturers reported payments, led by Abbott at 55.4% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $37,198 and has fallen 63.6% since, to $13,527 in 2025. Among thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in NC 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.

$132,258in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 323 payments — averaging $409.47 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Abbott$73K
Edwards Lifesciences$30K
Boston Scientific$15K
Transmedics, Inc.$5K
Teleflex LLC$4K
Abiomed$2K
plus $3K from 13 others

$157,134in research payments, 2019–2025

Across 44 payments — averaging $3571.22 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.

Abbott$145K
Medtronic$9K
Edwards Lifesciences$3K

What the payments were for

Consulting fees$92,45670%
Speaking & faculty fees$6,5005%
Travel & lodging$20,34915%
Food & beverage$12,95210%

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
Abbott	106	$73,321
Edwards Lifesciences	129	$29,819
Boston Scientific	20	$15,058
Transmedics, Inc.	4	$5,091
Teleflex LLC	2	$3,800
Abiomed	18	$1,742
Medtronic(2 entities)	15	$1,081
Peerless Surgical Inc.	4	$589
Arthrex	4	$406
Artivion, Inc.	4	$259
Paragonix Technologies, Inc.	2	$257
La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company	3	$205
Impulse Dynamics (USA) Inc.	1	$157
Davol Inc.	2	$156
Elutia, Inc.	2	$145
Atricure, Inc.	2	$64
Johnson & Johnson	2	$50
LSI Solutions Inc	2	$45
Zimmer Biomet	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.

HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Dev$46,881
Edwards SAPIEN 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve$25,248
THORATEC HEARTMATE 3 LVAS IMPLANT KIT$23,745
ORGAN CARE SYSTEM$5,091
GENERAL - STRUCTURAL HEART$3,645
GENERAL - THERAPIES$3,500
QuikClot$1,900
PLEUR-EVAC$1,900
Impella$1,241
GENERAL EP$982
INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve$656
GENERAL KIDNEY STONE DISEASE$604
2ND GEN CENTRIMAG PRIMARY CONSOLE$427
LOTUS EDGE$373
CG Future$363
Paragonix SherpaPak Cardiac Transport System$357
Watchman$319
OPTIMIZER$314
SAPIEN 3 Ultra RESILIA$272
LUNGguard$238

How this compares

$132,258 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 132 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in North Carolina.

See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in North Carolina →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$155,228

Medicare patients

135

Services billed

457

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 Charlotte

Kevin LobdellCharlotte$76K
Tom TheruvathCharlotte$74K
Jeffrey HagenCharlotte$69K
Jeko MadjarovCharlotte$47K
Jonathan KrautCharlotte$34K
Philip SeibelCharlotte$28K
John FrederickCharlotte$14K
Timothy BrandCharlotte$13K
Bradley LenoirCharlotte$13K
Ashish JainCharlotte$12K

See the full list for North Carolina →

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.

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