Laura Rodriguez Rivera
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — education (58.3%), travel and lodging and food and beverage — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 75.3% of it on its own, with 18 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $22,993, more than ten times the $1,426 reported in 2019. Among surgery clinicians in PR with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 5% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 208 payments — averaging $350.46 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$55K
- Medtronic$15K
- Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group - Latin America, L.L.C.$667
- BD$563
- Olympus Latin America, Inc.$292
- Johnson And Johnson International$270
- plus $1K from 13 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$3,3605%
- Speaking & faculty fees$5,1637%
- Travel & lodging$12,55417%
- Food & beverage$9,27713%
- Education$42,50058%
- Gifts$420%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitive Surgical | 88 | $54,893 |
| Medtronic | 71 | $14,919 |
| Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group - Latin America, L.L.C. | 2 | $667 |
| BD | 10 | $563 |
| Olympus Latin America, Inc. | 5 | $292 |
| Johnson And Johnson International | 4 | $270 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 5 | $268 |
| Covidien LP | 4 | $151 |
| KCI USA, Inc. | 4 | $143 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 1 | $125 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 3 | $110 |
| Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. | 3 | $106 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $76 |
| Stryker | 1 | $73 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 1 | $71 |
| AbbVie | 1 | $58 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $55 |
| Olympus Corporation Of The Americas | 2 | $40 |
| Teleflex LLC | 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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$34,421
- DAVINCI XI$18,500
- Signia$4,653
- ENDO GIA ULTRA$3,360
- HARMONIC Product Family$667
- Sonicision$147
- OPDIVO$125
- Harmonic$108
- VISTASEAL$108
- GIA$108
- XARELTO$100
How this compares
$72,895 in reported general payments places this provider in the 95th percentile of 202 surgery providers in Puerto Rico.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Acetaminophen-CodeineAcetaminophen With Codeine | 57 | $519 |
| Pantoprazole Sodium | 13 | $80 |
| Meloxicam | 14 | $60 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in Ponce
- Marcia Alayon RosarioPonce$14K
- Hiram Soler-BernardiPonce$12K
- Yarret Robles TorresPonce$6K
- Francisco Rivera-PedrogoPonce$6K
- Abelardo Quinones MartinezPonce$5K
- Ashla Gaibi RodriguezPonce$3K
- Hector Lopez GonzalezPonce$3K
- Angel RomeroPonce$3K
- Emanuel Mejias LafontainePonce$2K
- Juan Gonzalez CruzPonce$2K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.