Kenneth Liao, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Houston, TXNPI 1417053869
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
18 manufacturers reported payments, led by Transmedics, Inc. at 27.4% of the total.
Across 121 payments — averaging $80.21 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Transmedics, Inc.$3K
- Medtronic$2K
- Abbott$2K
- Intuitive Surgical$1K
- Abiomed$279
- Edwards Lifesciences$223
- plus $757 from 12 others
Across 12 payments — averaging $7791.08 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.
- Medtronic$93K
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$4,71249%
- Food & beverage$4,99351%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Transmedics, Inc. | 1 | $2,663 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 31 | $2,457 |
| Abbott | 40 | $1,902 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 8 | $1,425 |
| Abiomed | 4 | $279 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 15 | $223 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $160 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 5 | $152 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 2 | $121 |
| Akcea Therapeutics, Inc. | 3 | $86 |
| Medinc Of Texas | 2 | $74 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $36 |
| Amgen | 2 | $28 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 1 | $23 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $22 |
| Mayne Pharma Commercial LLC | 1 | $21 |
| Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 1 | $14 |
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$2,663
- Da Vinci Surgical System$1,333
- Mosaic$929
- HeartWare HVAD$405
- HeartMate$285
- CoreValve Evolut$262
- HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Assist Device$255
- HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Dev$243
- CardioMEMS HF System$168
- COREVALVE EVOLUT R$148
- THORATEC HEARTMATE 3 LVAS IMPLANT KIT$139
- Impella$134
- STRATAFIX$124
- DERMABOND$124
- LifeVest$104
How this compares
$9,705 in reported general payments places this provider in the 60th percentile of 424 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Texas.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Texas →
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 Houston
- Michael ReardonHouston$713K
- Danny RamzyHouston$527K
- Randall WolfHouston$283K
- Min KimHouston$185K
- Marc MoonHouston$142K
- Ismael Salas de ArmasHouston$121K
- Shawn GrothHouston$110K
- Mahesh RamchandaniHouston$110K
- Gabriel LoorHouston$106K
- Mara AntonoffHouston$104K
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.