James Scharff, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Saint Louis, MONPI 1407078827
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — travel and lodging (51.4%), food and beverage and education — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 13 manufacturers reported payments, led by Edwards Lifesciences at 39.1% of the total. That places this record below the midpoint for thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in MO, where the typical reported total is $4,200.
Across 63 payments — averaging $83.63 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Edwards Lifesciences$2K
- Abbott$1K
- Intuitive Surgical$825
- Atricure, Inc.$301
- Medtronic$185
- Abiomed$124
- plus $527 from 7 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$2,70751%
- Food & beverage$1,75133%
- Education$81015%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Edwards Lifesciences | 16 | $2,059 |
| Abbott | 12 | $1,247 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 4 | $825 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 5 | $301 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 9 | $185 |
| Abiomed | 1 | $124 |
| Merck | 1 | $117 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 3 | $117 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $70 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 3 | $64 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 3 | $62 |
| Corcym Inc | 2 | $54 |
| Cardiva Medical, Inc. | 2 | $43 |
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
$5,268 in reported general payments places this provider in the 50th percentile of 113 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Missouri.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Missouri →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ClopidogrelClopidogrel Bisulfate | 36 | $193 |
| Amiodarone Hcl | 14 | $128 |
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 22 | $126 |
| Metoprolol Succinate | 18 | $116 |
| Metoprolol Tartrate | 27 | $67 |
| Potassium Chloride | 22 | $63 |
| Warfarin Sodium | 11 | $49 |
| Furosemide | 20 | $19 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Saint Louis
- Tsuyoshi KanekoSaint Louis$353K
- Ralph DamianoSaint Louis$134K
- Puja KachrooSaint Louis$57K
- Umraan AhmadSaint Louis$51K
- Nabil MunfakhSaint Louis$44K
- Shuddhadeb RaySaint Louis$38K
- Joshua BakerSaint Louis$36K
- Alexander BresciaSaint Louis$35K
- Kunal Deepak KotkarSaint Louis$33K
- George PattersonSaint Louis$23K
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.