Jie Cheng, MD
Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology · Houston, TXNPI 1629176219
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $60,511 of the $82,345 with a category attached, or 73.5%. Mesoblast, Inc. accounts for 73.5% of it on its own, with 24 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $61,132, 4.6 times the $13,409 reported in 2019.
Across 226 payments — averaging $364.36 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Mesoblast, Inc.$61K
- Biotronik Inc.$10K
- Abbott$5K
- Medtronic$2K
- Acutus Medical, Inc.$1K
- Boston Scientific$1K
- plus $2K from 19 others
Across 15 payments — averaging $6225.45 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- Abbott$84K
- Boston Scientific$10K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$60,51173%
- Speaking & faculty fees$10,00012%
- Travel & lodging$3,4214%
- Food & beverage$8,41410%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mesoblast, Inc. | 8 | $60,511 |
| Biotronik Inc. | 5 | $10,211 |
| Abbott | 102 | $5,257 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 15 | $1,631 |
| Acutus Medical, Inc. | 5 | $1,258 |
| Boston Scientific | 22 | $1,022 |
| Cook Incorporated | 1 | $504 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 14 | $361 |
| Biosense Webster, Inc. | 8 | $326 |
| AstraZeneca | 2 | $247 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 10 | $189 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 8 | $135 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 2 | $114 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 5 | $100 |
| Altathera Pharmaceuticals LLC | 5 | $94 |
| Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, PLC | 2 | $65 |
| Impulse Dynamics (USA) Inc. | 2 | $57 |
| Angiodynamics, Inc. | 1 | $50 |
| Irhythm Technologies, Inc. | 2 | $40 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 1 | $38 |
| Pfizer | 2 | $37 |
| Cardiva Medical, Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Cook Medical LLC | 1 | $26 |
| Preventice Services, LLC | 1 | $25 |
| Novartis | 1 | $23 |
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.
- Ryoncil$60,511
- EVERA MRI XT DR SURESCAN$1,156
- AMPLATZER Occluders$662
- Cook Medical Lead Extraction$504
- Watchman$484
- Quadra Assura CRT Defibrillator$449
- CRM-Research only$415
- ENSITE PRECISION$396
- Durata Defibrillation ICD Lead$367
- EnSite Precision Cardiac Mapping System$270
- Ensite Cardiac Mapping System$257
- ASSURITY$172
- AMPLATZER TorqVue Delivery Systm$170
- Merlin Connectivity and Remote$167
- GALLANT$129
- FARXIGA$125
- XARELTO$125
- WAINUA$122
- Carto 3$121
- Allure Quadra RF CRT Pacemaker$119
How this compares
$82,345 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 233 clinical cardiac electrophysiology providers in Texas.
See all clinical cardiac electrophysiology providers in Texas →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| EliquisApixaban | 280 | $301,015 |
| XareltoRivaroxaban | 57 | $72,816 |
| EntrestoSacubitril/Valsartan | 15 | $18,764 |
| Flecainide Acetate | 135 | $5,951 |
| Dofetilide | 24 | $4,739 |
| Metoprolol Succinate | 145 | $2,779 |
| SotalolSotalol Hcl | 45 | $1,122 |
| Sotalol AfSotalol Hcl | 23 | $687 |
| Diltiazem 24hr Er (Cd)Diltiazem Hcl | 23 | $654 |
| Warfarin Sodium | 35 | $623 |
| Amiodarone Hcl | 24 | $468 |
| Potassium Chloride | 20 | $459 |
| Carvedilol | 38 | $456 |
| ClopidogrelClopidogrel Bisulfate | 38 | $415 |
| Lisinopril | 39 | $376 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Companies that both paid and supply prescribed drugs
These companies both reported payments to this provider and make drugs the provider prescribed under Medicare Part D in 2024. For most specialties this overlap is expected — a cardiologist who is paid by a cardiology drugmaker also treats heart disease. It is shown so the reader can see it, not because it implies anything on its own.
| Company | Paid to this provider | Part D cost of their drugs |
|---|---|---|
| PfizerEliquis | $37 | $301,015280 claims |
| Johnson & JohnsonXarelto | $361 | $72,81657 claims |
| NovartisEntresto | $23 | $18,76415 claims |
Reading this fairly. The Part D column is what drug plans and patients paid pharmacies — this provider received none of it, and it reflects how many patients they treat and what those drugs cost. Against peers, this provider's reported payments sit in the 80th percentile of 233 clinical cardiac electrophysiology providers in Texas.
Other clinical cardiac electrophysiology in Houston
- Miguel ValderrabanoHouston$461K
- Mehdi RazaviHouston$358K
- Ilyas ColombowalaHouston$204K
- Ramesh HariharanHouston$165K
- Nadim NasirHouston$162K
- John SegerHouston$147K
- Alexander DrtilHouston$126K
- Hamid Afshar-KharaghanHouston$112K
- David BurklandHouston$101K
- Paul SchurmannHouston$80K
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.