Francesco Bianco, MD
Surgery · Chicago, ILNPI 1427353622
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — speaking fees (41.1%), education and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 12 manufacturers reported payments, led by Medtronic at 59.2% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $372,205 and has fallen 64.1% since, to $133,800 in 2025. Among surgery clinicians in IL 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 982 payments — averaging $1068.65 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medtronic$621K
- Intuitive Surgical$282K
- Asensus Surgical, Inc.$125K
- Covidien LP$6K
- Virtual Incision Corporation$6K
- CMR Surgical, Inc.$5K
- plus $4K from 6 others
Across 10 payments — averaging $11,701 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.
- Asensus Surgical, Inc.$86K
- Medtronic$31K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$181,97617%
- Speaking & faculty fees$431,71041%
- Travel & lodging$184,80118%
- Food & beverage$28,2403%
- Education$222,67021%
- 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Medtronic | 522 | $620,863 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 290 | $282,340 |
| Asensus Surgical, Inc. | 136 | $125,089 |
| Covidien LP | 9 | $6,110 |
| Virtual Incision Corporation | 2 | $6,000 |
| CMR Surgical, Inc. | 3 | $5,290 |
| Davol Inc. | 12 | $1,610 |
| Distalmotion US | 1 | $1,573 |
| BD | 3 | $388 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 1 | $71 |
| TELA Bio, Inc. | 2 | $58 |
| Innocoll Pharmaceuticals Limited | 1 | $22 |
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.
- Senhance$278,223
- Da Vinci Surgical System$276,965
- Senhance Manipulator Arm$10,189
- Senhance Cockpit$10,189
- Senhance Node$10,189
- Mira!$6,000
- ProGrip$5,513
- Versius Surgical System (Versius Plus)$5,175
- DA VINCI SP$2,626
- GIA$2,028
- DEXTER L6 ROBOT$1,573
- Phasix Mesh$1,102
- ILLUMISITE$1,000
- LigaSure$579
- PHASIX$443
- Signia$425
- VersaOne$269
- Parietene$143
- Corecath$133
- PREMIUM SURGICLIP III$119
How this compares
$1,049,413 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 1,180 surgery providers in Illinois.
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 surgery in Chicago
- Mark KeldahlChicago$765K
- Rami LutfiChicago$411K
- Jonah StulbergChicago$209K
- Julie DunderdaleChicago$205K
- Shabirhusain AbadinChicago$153K
- Richard ZhuChicago$128K
- Eric HungnessChicago$126K
- Kyle MuellerChicago$117K
- Benjamin JohnsonChicago$115K
- Vivek PrachandChicago$110K
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.