James Hemp, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · San Diego, CANPI 1124006382
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $169,785 of the $244,340 with a category attached, or 69.5%. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 91.2% of it on its own, with 18 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $107,730 and has fallen 94.9% since, to $5,495 in 2025. Among thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in CA 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 409 payments — averaging $597.41 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$223K
- Edwards Lifesciences$19K
- W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.$801
- Atricure, Inc.$437
- Medtronic$409
- Abbott$207
- plus $820 from 13 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$10,8284%
- Speaking & faculty fees$1,0000%
- Travel & lodging$47,83820%
- Food & beverage$14,8896%
- Education$169,78569%
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 | 296 | $222,926 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 78 | $18,740 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 7 | $801 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 6 | $437 |
| Medtronic | 3 | $409 |
| Abbott | 4 | $207 |
| Hemosonics LLC | 1 | $195 |
| Cook Medical LLC | 2 | $149 |
| Abiomed | 2 | $149 |
| Phadia US Inc. | 1 | $106 |
| Histosonics, Inc. | 1 | $35 |
| LSI Solutions Inc | 1 | $32 |
| Livanova USA, Inc. | 1 | $27 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 1 | $26 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $25 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 1 | $24 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $23 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Haemonetics 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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$220,880
- INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve$1,556
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve$1,543
- MITRIS RESILIA Mitral Valve$843
- Edwards MC3 Tricuspid Annuloplasty Ring$716
- GORE TAG Thoracic Branch Endoprosthesis$601
- Quantra QPlus System$390
- CoreValve Evolut$279
- Carpentier-Edwards Physio II Annuloplasty Ring$234
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra Transcatheter Heart Valve$186
- MitraClip$148
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$147
- EDWARDS INTUITY Elite valve system$130
- COREVALVE EVOLUT R$130
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$119
- Cook Medical AAA$117
- ImmunoCAP$106
- Impella$105
How this compares
$244,340 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 546 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in California.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in California →
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 San Diego
- Mark OnaitisSan Diego$207K
- Gert PretoriusSan Diego$110K
- Robert AdamsonSan Diego$82K
- Thomas FogartyPortola Valley$3.7M
- Steven GundryPalm Springs$1.6M
- Armin KiankhooySaint Helena$941K
- Ara KlijianMurrieta$916K
- Gregory FontanaThousand Oaks$875K
- Gansevoort DunningtonSaint Helena$764K
- Wilson TsaiWalnut Creek$680K
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.