Joshua Baker, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Saint Louis, MONPI 1972623692
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by consulting fees: $29,500 of the $35,756 with a category attached, or 82.5%. Biostable Science & Engineering accounts for 85.2% of it on its own, with 15 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $30,717 and has fallen 93.9% since, to $1,871 in 2025.
Across 69 payments — averaging $518.21 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Biostable Science & Engineering$30K
- Edwards Lifesciences$2K
- W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.$1K
- Abbott$655
- Medtronic$323
- Baxter Healthcare$310
- plus $607 from 10 others
Across 14 payments — averaging $12,321 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.
- Corcym Inc$120K
- Livanova USA, Inc.$52K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$29,50083%
- Travel & lodging$4,17612%
- Food & beverage$2,0816%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Biostable Science & Engineering | 4 | $30,476 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 14 | $2,204 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 14 | $1,181 |
| Abbott | 4 | $655 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 10 | $323 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 4 | $310 |
| Livanova USA, Inc. | 3 | $120 |
| Sanofi | 1 | $115 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 3 | $112 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 4 | $81 |
| Abiomed | 1 | $60 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 3 | $55 |
| Covidien LP | 1 | $19 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| LSI Solutions Inc | 1 | $15 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 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.
- EVOQUE$1,864
- GORE EXCLUDER Thoracoabdominal Branch Endoprosthesis$898
- TENDYNE$611
- PREVELEAK$232
- Avalus$155
How this compares
$35,756 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 113 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Missouri.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Missouri →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Amiodarone Hcl | 20 | $208 |
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 15 | $124 |
| Metoprolol Tartrate | 19 | $72 |
| ClopidogrelClopidogrel Bisulfate | 27 | $66 |
| Furosemide | 12 | $33 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Saint Louis
- Tsuyoshi KanekoSaint Louis$353K
- Ralph DamianoSaint Louis$134K
- Puja KachrooSaint Louis$57K
- Umraan AhmadSaint Louis$51K
- Nabil MunfakhSaint Louis$44K
- Shuddhadeb RaySaint Louis$38K
- Alexander BresciaSaint Louis$35K
- Kunal Deepak KotkarSaint Louis$33K
- George PattersonSaint Louis$23K
- Muhammad MasoodSaint Louis$23K
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.