James West, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Birmingham, ALNPI 1679009302
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $3,602 of the $5,343 with a category attached, or 67.4%. 17 manufacturers reported payments, led by Atricure, Inc. at 45.1% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $2,260, more than ten times the $185 reported in 2021. That places this record below the midpoint for thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in AL, where the typical reported total is $5,387.
Across 73 payments — averaging $73.19 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Atricure, Inc.$2K
- Medtronic$1K
- Edwards Lifesciences$856
- Bolton Medical Inc$287
- La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company$147
- Johnson & Johnson$123
- plus $516 from 11 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$1,74133%
- Food & beverage$3,60267%
Most of this is food and beverage — typically meals provided during product presentations at a clinic or hospital. Nationally that is the single largest category of reported payments by count.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Atricure, Inc. | 19 | $2,410 |
| Medtronic | 13 | $1,003 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 11 | $856 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 7 | $287 |
| La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company | 3 | $147 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 4 | $123 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 2 | $114 |
| Penumbra, Inc. | 1 | $96 |
| Abiomed | 2 | $65 |
| KCI USA, Inc. | 2 | $63 |
| Reapplix Inc. | 2 | $55 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 1 | $28 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 2 | $26 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 1 | $19 |
| Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, PLC | 1 | $19 |
| Merck | 1 | $18 |
| Paladin Technology Solutions | 1 | $14 |
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.
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$1,704
- EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYSTEM WITH VISITRAX$1,097
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM (CRYO2)$981
- COREVALVE EVOLUT R$402
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$276
- Mosaic$165
- Octopus$160
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$115
- TREO ABDOMINAL STENT-GRAFT SYSTEM$108
- GIAPREZA$103
How this compares
$5,343 in reported general payments places this provider in the 45th percentile of 68 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Alabama.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Alabama →
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 Birmingham
- Kyle EudaileyBirmingham$184K
- Carlton RandlemanBirmingham$161K
- James DaviesBirmingham$99K
- Andrew PapoyBirmingham$63K
- Sara PereiraBirmingham$62K
- Panayotis VardasBirmingham$49K
- Clifton LewisBirmingham$47K
- Benjamin WeiBirmingham$18K
- Douglas MinnichBirmingham$10K
- John ThurberBirmingham$7K
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.