Joseph Helak
Cardiovascular Disease · Boone, NCNPI 1609888569
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Almost everything reported here is food and beverage — 96.9% of the total across 106 separate payments, which is the pattern of a clinician who attends manufacturer presentations rather than one with a consulting arrangement. 19 manufacturers reported payments, led by Johnson & Johnson at 34.0% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $1,081 and has fallen 86.7% since, to $144 in 2025. That places this record below the midpoint for cardiovascular disease clinicians in NC, where the typical reported total is $1,959.
Across 106 payments — averaging $15.74 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Johnson & Johnson$567
- Amgen$216
- Pfizer$199
- AstraZeneca$156
- ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp)$106
- Bayer$60
- plus $364 from 13 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$1,61797%
- Education$523%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Johnson & Johnson | 43 | $567 |
| Amgen | 14 | $216 |
| Pfizer | 13 | $199 |
| AstraZeneca | 9 | $156 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 2 | $106 |
| Bayer | 3 | $60 |
| GE HealthCare | 1 | $52 |
| Novartis | 3 | $51 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 3 | $41 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 3 | $38 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 2 | $34 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 2 | $26 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 1 | $25 |
| Corvista Health, Inc. | 2 | $23 |
| Novo Nordisk | 1 | $22 |
| Merck | 1 | $15 |
| Vital Connect, Inc | 1 | $14 |
| Portola Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 1 | $12 |
| Bardy Diagnostics, Inc. | 1 | $12 |
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.
- XARELTO$125
How this compares
$1,669 in reported general payments places this provider in the 45th percentile of 727 cardiovascular disease providers in North Carolina.
See all cardiovascular disease providers in North Carolina →
Other cardiovascular disease in Boone
- R WilliamsDurham$2.1M
- Marat FudimDurham$902K
- Jonathan PicciniDurham$767K
- Michael RinaldiCharlotte$722K
- Markus SchererCharlotte$526K
- Robert MentzDurham$489K
- Sean PokorneyMorganton$477K
- Adrian HernandezDurham$409K
- Sanjeev GulatiCharlotte$406K
- Richard BrowneCharlotte$379K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.