Louis Zbinden, MD
Surgery · Charlotte, NCNPI 1518958826
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — education (47.1%), travel and lodging and food and beverage — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 68.3% of it on its own, with 14 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $6,730 and has fallen 83.0% since, to $1,146 in 2025.
Across 60 payments — averaging $194.65 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$8K
- Enterra Medical, Inc.$2K
- Distalmotion US$1K
- Davol Inc.$323
- Smith+Nephew$163
- Tactile Systems Technology Inc$89
- plus $327 from 9 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$3,51830%
- Food & beverage$2,65223%
- Education$5,50047%
- Gifts$90%
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 | 23 | $7,979 |
| Enterra Medical, Inc. | 6 | $1,706 |
| Distalmotion US | 2 | $1,092 |
| Davol Inc. | 8 | $323 |
| Smith+Nephew | 2 | $163 |
| Tactile Systems Technology Inc | 3 | $89 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 5 | $68 |
| Boston Scientific | 3 | $62 |
| Kerecis Limited | 1 | $43 |
| Solventum Corporation | 2 | $43 |
| BD | 1 | $35 |
| Portola Pharmaceuticals, LLC | 1 | $24 |
| Pacira Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 1 | $19 |
| Osiris Therapeutics Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Acelrx Pharmaceuticals, 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.
- DAVINCI XI$5,500
- Da Vinci Surgical System$2,138
- DEXTER L6 ROBOT$1,092
- LENS 4K$138
How this compares
$11,679 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 970 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.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrocodone-AcetaminophenHydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 71 | $252 |
| Ondansetron OdtOndansetron | 47 | $186 |
| Ondansetron Hcl | 22 | $46 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in Charlotte
- Brant HenifordCharlotte$831K
- Vedra AugensteinCharlotte$789K
- John MartinieCharlotte$712K
- David IannittiCharlotte$360K
- Gregory StanleyCharlotte$304K
- Erin BakerCharlotte$221K
- John GreenCharlotte$202K
- Bradley ThomasCharlotte$162K
- Keith GersinCharlotte$80K
- Timothy KuwadaCharlotte$69K
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.