Ernesto Garza, MD
Surgery · McAllen, TXNPI 1912126079
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $32,000 of the $37,886 with a category attached, or 84.5%. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 94.2% of it on its own, with 22 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $17,053 and has fallen 97.8% since, to $383 in 2025. Among surgery clinicians in TX 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 92 payments — averaging $411.80 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$36K
- Medtronic$1K
- Mimedx Group, Inc.$284
- Covidien LP$156
- Novo Nordisk$118
- Davol Inc.$101
- plus $448 from 17 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$2,0025%
- Food & beverage$3,88410%
- Education$32,00084%
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 | 42 | $35,681 |
| Medtronic | 13 | $1,099 |
| Mimedx Group, Inc. | 7 | $284 |
| Covidien LP | 3 | $156 |
| Novo Nordisk | 1 | $118 |
| Davol Inc. | 1 | $101 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 4 | $67 |
| Melinta Therapeutics, LLC | 2 | $48 |
| Urgo Medical North America, LLC | 2 | $38 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 2 | $37 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $31 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 2 | $30 |
| Innocoll Pharmaceuticals Limited | 2 | $28 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 1 | $20 |
| Reshape Lifesciences Inc. | 1 | $20 |
| Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Hydrofera LLC | 1 | $19 |
| TELA Bio, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Standard Bariatrics, Inc. | 1 | $17 |
| Medinc Of Texas | 1 | $17 |
| Olympus America Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| KCI USA, Inc. | 1 | $13 |
| Redhill Biopharma Inc. | 1 | $12 |
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$34,739
- LigaSure$733
- Phasix Mesh$101
How this compares
$37,886 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 1,830 surgery providers in Texas.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| MounjaroTirzepatide | 12 | $15,230 |
| Esomeprazole Magnesium | 41 | $1,655 |
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 40 | $491 |
| Acetaminophen-CodeineAcetaminophen With Codeine | 59 | $351 |
| Metronidazole | 14 | $116 |
| Amoxicillin-Clavulanate PotassAmoxicillin/Potassium Clav | 18 | $114 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in McAllen
- Diego CamachoMcAllen$214K
- Michael HarkinsTomball$2.7M
- Douglas StoddardAustin$1.4M
- Steven FassAustin$989K
- Vineet ChoudhryAustin$851K
- Andy HawthorneRound Rock$843K
- Nancy MarquezAustin$700K
- Sachin KukrejaDallas$640K
- Alejandro EsquivelAustin$631K
- Erik WilsonBellaire$610K
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.