Joel Sternbach
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Seattle, WANPI 1376838334
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $9,000 of the $13,079 with a category attached, or 68.8%. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 94.3% of it on its own, with 4 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2020 at $5,504 and has fallen 96.7% since, to $181 in 2025.
Across 42 payments — averaging $311.41 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$12K
- Edwards Lifesciences$237
- Body Vision Medical Inc.$229
- Atricure, Inc.$187
- Galvanize Therapeutics, Inc$98
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$2,20417%
- Food & beverage$1,79214%
- Education$9,00069%
- Gifts$821%
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 | 36 | $12,328 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 1 | $237 |
| Body Vision Medical Inc. | 1 | $229 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 3 | $187 |
| Galvanize Therapeutics, Inc | 1 | $98 |
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
$13,079 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 105 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Washington.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Washington →
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 Seattle
- Glenn BarnhartSeattle$577K
- Eric VallieresSeattle$202K
- Eric LehrSeattle$72K
- Thomas VargheseSeattle$22K
- Shakirat OyetunjiSeattle$21K
- Christopher BurkeSeattle$19K
- Mohamed EldeirySeattle$17K
- Ioannis John DemarakosSeattle$15K
- Peter WhiteSeattle$15K
- Adam BogradSeattle$13K
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.