Kimberly Linden, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Knoxville, TNNPI 1205212230
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (52.7%), travel and lodging and education — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 27 manufacturers reported payments, led by Medtronic at 38.2% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $3,851 and has fallen 83.1% since, to $650 in 2025.
Across 115 payments — averaging $52.97 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medtronic$2K
- Edwards Lifesciences$2K
- Atricure, Inc.$383
- Abiomed$313
- ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp)$158
- Abbott$113
- plus $804 from 21 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$2,86347%
- Food & beverage$3,20753%
- Education$210%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Medtronic | 27 | $2,329 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 11 | $1,991 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 22 | $383 |
| Abiomed | 5 | $313 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 10 | $158 |
| Abbott | 5 | $113 |
| Smoky Mountain Surgical LLC | 5 | $106 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 3 | $89 |
| Octapharma USA, Inc. | 2 | $73 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 3 | $61 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 1 | $52 |
| AstraZeneca | 2 | $51 |
| C. R. Bard, Inc. & Subsidiaries | 2 | $46 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 2 | $44 |
| Sanara Medtech Inc. | 3 | $34 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $29 |
| LSI Solutions Inc | 1 | $25 |
| Lemaitre Vascular, Inc. | 1 | $25 |
| Davol Inc. | 1 | $24 |
| Convatec Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| CSL Behring | 1 | $20 |
| Merck | 1 | $20 |
| Stryker | 1 | $19 |
| Acera Surgical, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 1 | $17 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Angiodynamics, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
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.
- Simulus$1,309
- Valiant Captivia$450
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve$426
- Impella$255
How this compares
$6,092 in reported general payments places this provider in the 55th 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.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Mupirocin | 16 | $93 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Knoxville
- Christian ProbstKnoxville$25K
- Sean JordanKnoxville$8K
- Raymond DieterKnoxville$8K
- Christina GlennKnoxville$7K
- David GrahamKnoxville$6K
- William McAlexanderKnoxville$5K
- Carlo Martinez TorresKnoxville$5K
- William WalkerKnoxville$4K
- Grayson WheatleyNashville$900K
- V ReddyNashville$760K
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.