Kai Zhao, MD
Transplant Surgery · Cleveland, OHNPI 1356609879
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by travel and lodging: $1,482 of the $1,980 with a category attached, or 74.9%. Transmedics, Inc. accounts for 74.9% of it on its own, with 9 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $1,541 and has fallen 94.2% since, to $90 in 2025.
Across 15 payments — averaging $132.01 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Transmedics, Inc.$1K
- Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$158
- Johnson & Johnson$103
- Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC$79
- Integra Lifesciences Corporation$45
- Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc.$26
- plus $87 from 4 others
Across 1 payment — averaging $77,016 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.
- Aerin Medical Inc.$77K
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$1,48275%
- Food & beverage$41921%
- Education$794%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Transmedics, Inc. | 2 | $1,482 |
| Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2 | $158 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 4 | $103 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 1 | $79 |
| Integra Lifesciences Corporation | 1 | $45 |
| Mallinckrodt Hospital Products Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Merck | 1 | $22 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 1 | $22 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $22 |
| Solventum Corporation | 1 | $21 |
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.
- ORGAN CARE SYSTEM$1,482
- Envarsus$108
How this compares
$1,980 in reported general payments places this provider in the 55th percentile of 43 transplant surgery providers in Ohio.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| VemlidyTenofovir Alafenamide | 20 | $28,733 |
| Valganciclovir Hcl | 61 | $9,217 |
| Clotrimazole | 38 | $1,197 |
| Sulfamethoxazole-TrimethoprimSulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim | 77 | $544 |
| Pantoprazole Sodium | 45 | $489 |
| Prednisone | 55 | $392 |
| Carvedilol | 46 | $281 |
| Amlodipine Besylate | 49 | $177 |
| Calcitriol | 15 | $169 |
| Acyclovir | 12 | $141 |
| Tamsulosin Hcl | 20 | $126 |
| Fludrocortisone Acetate | 12 | $101 |
| Metoprolol Tartrate | 17 | $60 |
| Furosemide | 20 | $49 |
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 12 | $47 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other transplant surgery in Cleveland
- Choon Hyuck KwonCleveland$507K
- Koji HashimotoCleveland$30K
- Jaekeun KimCleveland$9K
- Amit NairCleveland$8K
- Alejandro PitaCleveland$3K
- Mazhar KhalilCleveland$2K
- Pranit ChotaiCleveland$2K
- Mohamed MakladCleveland$323
- Edmund SanchezCleveland$203
- Kareem Abu ElmagdCleveland$39
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.