John Puskas, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Atlanta, GANPI 1457440018
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — royalties or licence payments (56.0%), speaking fees and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 17 manufacturers reported payments, led by Scanlan International Inc at 56.0% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $137,533 and has fallen 96.6% since, to $4,636 in 2025. Among thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in GA 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 78 payments — averaging $4262.17 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Scanlan International Inc$186K
- Medtronic$105K
- Artivion, Inc.$31K
- Edwards Lifesciences$8K
- Atricure, Inc.$883
- Arthrex$531
- plus $2K from 11 others
Across 49 payments — averaging $16,366 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.
- Edwards Lifesciences$433K
- Vascular Graft Solutions Inc$254K
- Artivion, Inc.$44K
- Amgen$43K
- Atricure, Inc.$28K
What the payments were for
- Royalty or licence$186,09256%
- Consulting fees$30,0009%
- Speaking & faculty fees$93,08828%
- Travel & lodging$18,5696%
- Food & beverage$4,7011%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Scanlan International Inc | 2 | $186,092 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 38 | $105,067 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 7 | $30,682 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 8 | $7,672 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 5 | $883 |
| Arthrex | 2 | $531 |
| Vascular Graft Solutions Inc | 3 | $416 |
| Abbott | 3 | $322 |
| Heartflow, Inc. | 1 | $138 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 1 | $132 |
| Maquet Cardiovascular L.L.C. | 2 | $127 |
| Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corporation | 1 | $119 |
| Aesculap AG | 1 | $91 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 1 | $85 |
| Merck | 1 | $67 |
| Bardy Diagnostics, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 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.
- Octopus$66,199
- ON-X AORTIC HEART VALVE WITH CONFORM-X SEWING RING AND EXTENDED HOLDER$30,368
- CoreValve Evolut$9,403
- Penditure$3,458
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$789
- VEST$377
- On-X$314
- HawkOne$194
- SJM MASTERS SERIES$172
- COREVALVE EVOLUT R$159
- Avalus$147
- FFRct$138
- BioGlue$132
- TMR$132
- TREO ABDOMINAL STENT-GRAFT SYSTEM$132
- Virtuosaph$119
- Hercules$119
- Acrobat-I Stabilizer$103
How this compares
$332,450 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 144 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Georgia.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Georgia →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 11 | $37 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Atlanta
- Manu SanchetiAtlanta$805K
- Douglas MurphyAtlanta$254K
- Ezequiel MolinaAtlanta$215K
- Gaetano PaoneAtlanta$134K
- Michael HalkosAtlanta$102K
- Allan PickensAtlanta$87K
- Bradley LeshnowerAtlanta$63K
- Kimberly HolstAtlanta$52K
- William KeelingAtlanta$49K
- Mark HelmersAtlanta$32K
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.