Kunal Patel, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Durham, NCNPI 1447698642
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 38 payments — averaging $160.08 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- United Therapeutics Corporation$3K
- Johnson & Johnson$1K
- Zimmer Biomet$978
- Paragonix Technologies, Inc.$298
- TELA Bio, Inc.$113
- Baxter Healthcare$108
- plus $120 from 2 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$2,78046%
- Travel & lodging$79413%
- Food & beverage$2,50941%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| United Therapeutics Corporation | 5 | $3,224 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 15 | $1,241 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 11 | $978 |
| Paragonix Technologies, Inc. | 2 | $298 |
| TELA Bio, Inc. | 1 | $113 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $108 |
| Shire North American Group Inc | 1 | $87 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 2 | $33 |
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.
- MEDLINE$645
- ECHELON ENDOPATH$519
- VISTASEAL$395
- LUNGguard$298
- BaroGuard$298
- DERMABOND$147
- PROLENE$142
- SherpaPak$139
- LIVERguard$139
- PancreasPak$139
- Pectus Bar Bending Forceps, Standard$126
- Echelon Flex$125
- Harmonic$125
- SURGICEL NU-KNIT$125
- Enseal X1$125
- OviTex Reinforced Bioscaffold With Permanent Polymer (OviTex)$113
- FLOSEAL$108
How this compares
$6,083 in reported general payments places this provider in the 45th percentile of 132 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in North Carolina.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in North Carolina →
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 Durham
- Matthew HartwigDurham$4.2M
- David HarpoleDurham$211K
- Thomas D AmicoDurham$94K
- Jeffrey GacaDurham$80K
- Stafford BaldersonDurham$25K
- Herbert LyerlyDurham$24K
- Betty TongDurham$16K
- Hai SalfityDurham$15K
- Joseph RubelowskyRaleigh$2.2M
- Mark GrohAsheville$1.7M
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.