Inderpal Sarkaria
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Pittsburgh, PANPI 1689827883
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — education (36.4%), speaking fees and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 71.9% of it on its own, with 20 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $75,563 and has fallen 58.8% since, to $31,146 in 2025. Among thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in PA 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 445 payments — averaging $557.38 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$178K
- Stryker$36K
- Ethicon Endo-surgery Inc.$13K
- Johnson & Johnson$7K
- Medtronic$6K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$2K
- plus $5K from 15 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$52,70321%
- Speaking & faculty fees$55,85023%
- Travel & lodging$32,28513%
- Food & beverage$16,7367%
- Education$90,39336%
- Gifts$690%
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 | 303 | $178,402 |
| Stryker | 28 | $36,363 |
| Ethicon Endo-surgery Inc. | 1 | $13,345 |
| Johnson & Johnson(3 entities) | 12 | $6,562 |
| Medtronic | 47 | $6,411 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 11 | $2,215 |
| Boston Scientific | 4 | $1,124 |
| Pinnacle Biologics, Inc | 16 | $1,096 |
| Covidien LP | 3 | $790 |
| On Target Laboratories, Inc | 6 | $671 |
| Biom'up SA | 1 | $152 |
| Bard Access Systems, Inc. | 1 | $140 |
| Davol Inc. | 2 | $138 |
| Pulmonx Corporation | 1 | $128 |
| Veran Medical Technologies, Inc. | 3 | $114 |
| ERBE USA Inc | 1 | $82 |
| Activ Surgical, Inc. | 1 | $72 |
| AstraZeneca | 1 | $68 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 1 | $65 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 1 | $61 |
| Galvanize Therapeutics, Inc | 1 | $34 |
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$167,648
- 1788$15,655
- 1688$13,500
- SPY-PHI SYSTEM$8,401
- Monarch Platform$5,978
- ION$3,000
- DA VINCI SP$1,500
- L10$1,375
- GENERAL PULMONARY$850
- Photofrin$545
- Cytalux$483
- Signia$421
- MONARCH$290
- Signet$154
- VersaStep$153
- HEMOBLAST$152
- Polysorb$152
- PROGEL$140
- CHARTIS CATHETER$128
- ZEPHYR DELIVERY CATHETER$128
How this compares
$248,035 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 314 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Pennsylvania.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Pennsylvania →
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 Pittsburgh
- Benny WekslerPittsburgh$161K
- Nicholas BakerPittsburgh$138K
- Walter McGregorPittsburgh$124K
- Rajeev DhuparPittsburgh$65K
- Robert KormosPittsburgh$53K
- David KaczorowskiPittsburgh$47K
- Hiroyuki TsukuiPittsburgh$45K
- Hiran FernandoPittsburgh$34K
- Stephen BaileyPittsburgh$33K
- Joseph BavariaAllentown$1.7M
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.