Keki Balsara, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Nashville, TNNPI 1942467642
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (48.7%), travel and lodging and speaking fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 11 manufacturers reported payments, led by Abiomed at 55.3% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $5,189, more than ten times the $206 reported in 2019.
Across 137 payments — averaging $87.04 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Abiomed$7K
- Abbott$4K
- Medtronic$579
- Atricure, Inc.$523
- Artivion, Inc.$160
- Getinge USA Sales, LLC$108
- plus $126 from 5 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$2,75023%
- Travel & lodging$3,36328%
- Food & beverage$5,81149%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Abiomed | 78 | $6,594 |
| Abbott | 39 | $3,834 |
| Medtronic | 5 | $579 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 7 | $523 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 2 | $160 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 1 | $108 |
| Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corporation | 1 | $37 |
| Cvrx, Inc. | 1 | $30 |
| Angiodynamics, Inc. | 1 | $24 |
| Quest Medical Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $17 |
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.
- Impella$3,790
- THORATEC HEARTMATE 3 LVAS IMPLANT KIT$3,005
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$439
- Micra$242
- COREVALVE EVOLUT R$239
- CARDIOMEMS$162
- CARDIOHELP$108
How this compares
$11,924 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 115 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Tennessee.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Tennessee →
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.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Nashville
- Grayson WheatleyNashville$900K
- V ReddyNashville$760K
- Clayton KaiserNashville$124K
- Sreekumar SubramanianNashville$98K
- Erin GillaspieNashville$95K
- Amber EdwardsNashville$83K
- Caitlin DemarestNashville$33K
- Henry ToddNashville$28K
- Swaroop BommareddiNashville$26K
- Ali IrshadNashville$20K
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.