Gautam Bhatia, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Greenville, SCNPI 1881911915
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (42.9%), education and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 32 manufacturers reported payments, led by Baxter Healthcare at 48.0% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $9,911 and has fallen 60.6% since, to $3,908 in 2025. Among thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in SC 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 327 payments — averaging $93.47 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Baxter Healthcare$15K
- Atricure, Inc.$4K
- Artivion, Inc.$2K
- Abbott$2K
- Edwards Lifesciences$2K
- Abiomed$2K
- plus $4K from 26 others
Across 8 payments — averaging $3564.25 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.$29K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$5,56518%
- Travel & lodging$4,72415%
- Food & beverage$13,12243%
- Education$7,15523%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Baxter Healthcare | 36 | $14,679 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 57 | $4,492 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 23 | $2,414 |
| Abbott | 19 | $2,062 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 23 | $1,797 |
| Abiomed | 55 | $1,575 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 21 | $980 |
| Davol Inc. | 14 | $356 |
| Novartis | 17 | $351 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 8 | $350 |
| BD | 7 | $214 |
| Stryker | 1 | $169 |
| Cook Medical LLC | 1 | $125 |
| LSI Solutions Inc | 1 | $109 |
| La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company | 1 | $109 |
| Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 5 | $107 |
| Cvrx, Inc. | 4 | $86 |
| Amgen | 5 | $83 |
| AstraZeneca | 4 | $73 |
| Merck | 4 | $65 |
| Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. | 4 | $58 |
| Bayer | 3 | $53 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 3 | $42 |
| Aroa Biosurgery Incorporated | 1 | $40 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 2 | $34 |
| Medtronic | 2 | $29 |
| Acera Surgical, Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Nuwellis, Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Livanova USA, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Novo Nordisk | 1 | $21 |
| Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, PLC | 1 | $14 |
| Solventum Corporation | 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.
- FLOSEAL$7,516
- TISSEEL$6,161
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$2,260
- Mitra Clip system$1,422
- Cardiac non-SynerGraft$668
- ATRICURE ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION$498
- CRYOVALVE SG PULMONARY HUMAN HEART VALVE$401
- LifeVest$335
- HemoSphere$295
- Impella$277
- ATRICURE SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$265
- COSEAL$225
- PREVELEAK$225
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$222
- EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYSTEM WITH VISITRAX$214
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra Transcatheter Heart Valve$186
- SAPIEN 3 Ultra RESILIA$177
- ON-X AORTIC HEART VALVE WITH CONFORM-X SEWING RING AND EXTENDED HOLDER$170
- SPY-PHI SYSTEM$169
- AMDS-Ascyrus Medical$160
How this compares
$30,566 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 83 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in South Carolina.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in South Carolina →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Losartan Potassium | 44 | $346 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Greenville
- Barry DavisGreenville$16K
- Brian RundallGreenville$13K
- William BoltonGreenville$13K
- Philip ErwinGreenville$4K
- Sachin ShahGreenville$3K
- John KabasGreenville$3K
- Timothy WilliamsGreenville$3K
- Hugh DennisGreenville$2K
- Curtis QuinnCharleston$374K
- Marc KatzCharleston$265K
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.