Jose Sterling, MD
Surgery · Santa Fe, NMNPI 1881733806
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $16,000 of the $19,661 with a category attached, or 81.4%. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 88.5% of it on its own, with 5 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2020 at $9,102 and has fallen 99.6% since, to $38 in 2024. Among surgery clinicians in NM with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 64 payments — averaging $307.21 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$17K
- Kls-martin L.p.$2K
- Medtronic$135
- Veran Medical Technologies, Inc.$100
- Johnson & Johnson$69
- TEI Biosciences Inc$23
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$3,66119%
- Education$16,00081%
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 | 20 | $17,397 |
| Kls-martin L.p. | 36 | $1,938 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 3 | $135 |
| Veran Medical Technologies, Inc. | 1 | $100 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 3 | $69 |
| TEI Biosciences Inc | 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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$16,949
- Spin$100
How this compares
$19,661 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 162 surgery providers in New Mexico.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 14 | $94 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 26 | $55 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in Santa Fe
- Nicholas SutherlandSanta Fe$11K
- Anna VolturaSanta Fe$4K
- Mario LeybaAlbuquerque$1.2M
- Michael BleaAlbuquerque$420K
- David HoangAlbuquerque$264K
- Erica McBrideAlbuquerque$95K
- Fermin FontanLas Cruces$87K
- Gregory BorahAlbuquerque$77K
- Edward AuyangAlbuquerque$70K
- Jacquelyn BrandenburgAlbuquerque$60K
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.