Has Ismael Salas de Armas, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $120,527 in general payments to Ismael Salas de Armas, MD across 231 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 Ismael Salas de Armas, 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 Ismael Salas de Armas, 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.

Ismael Salas de Armas, MD

Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Houston, TXNPI 1245478585

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

This record is dominated by speaking fees: $79,900 of the $120,527 with a category attached, or 66.3%. Abiomed accounts for 87.7% of it on its own, with 17 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $53,975 and has fallen 57.1% since, to $23,140 in 2025. Among thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in TX 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.

$120,527in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 231 payments — averaging $521.76 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Abiomed$106K
Abbott$5K
Atricure, Inc.$2K
Transmedics, Inc.$2K
Medtronic$2K
Edwards Lifesciences$2K
plus $2K from 12 others

What the payments were for

Consulting fees$6,0005%
Speaking & faculty fees$79,90066%
Travel & lodging$17,75915%
Food & beverage$16,84714%
Education$210%

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
Abiomed	90	$105,662
Abbott	59	$5,302
Atricure, Inc.	14	$2,249
Transmedics, Inc.	1	$2,201
Medtronic(2 entities)	27	$1,898
Edwards Lifesciences	18	$1,563
Baxter Healthcare	3	$330
Helios Cardio Inc	1	$248
BD	1	$166
Medinc Of Texas	2	$150
Zimmer Biomet	2	$149
Boston Scientific	5	$148
Integra Lifesciences Corporation	1	$125
Davol Inc.	1	$110
Kls-martin L.p.	1	$80
Livanova USA, Inc.	1	$66
Johnson & Johnson	3	$64
ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp)	1	$17

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.

How this compares

$120,527 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 424 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Texas.

See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Texas →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$84,772

Medicare patients

Services billed

243

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 Houston

Michael ReardonHouston$713K
Danny RamzyHouston$527K
Randall WolfHouston$283K
Min KimHouston$185K
Marc MoonHouston$142K
Shawn GrothHouston$110K
Mahesh RamchandaniHouston$110K
Gabriel LoorHouston$106K
Mara AntonoffHouston$104K
Moritz Wyler von BallmoosHouston$91K

See the full list for Texas →

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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