Luis Castro, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Redwood City, CANPI 1679587893
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — speaking fees (27.9%), food and beverage and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Abbott accounts for 64.7% of it on its own, with 11 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2020 at $9,214 and has fallen 64.5% since, to $3,276 in 2025.
Across 136 payments — averaging $224.32 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Abbott$20K
- Atricure, Inc.$5K
- Medtronic$4K
- Edwards Lifesciences$1K
- Baxter Healthcare$195
- Clearflow Inc.$138
- plus $161 from 6 others
Across 11 payments — averaging $2257.64 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.
- Atricure, Inc.$25K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$6,50021%
- Speaking & faculty fees$8,52528%
- Grants$1,1234%
- Travel & lodging$6,27321%
- Food & beverage$7,90026%
- Education$420%
- Other$1450%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Abbott | 62 | $19,742 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 28 | $5,228 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 23 | $3,934 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 10 | $1,111 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 4 | $195 |
| Clearflow Inc. | 2 | $138 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $61 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 1 | $23 |
| Davol Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 1 | $21 |
| Lemaitre Vascular, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Stryker | 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.
- Trifecta GT Tissue Heart Valve$9,911
- Epic$7,475
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$4,277
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$3,544
- CoreValve Evolut$1,590
- 3F$1,123
- INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve$425
- Avalus$375
- HeartWare HVAD$370
- MITRIS RESILIA Mitral Valve$359
- MitraClip$326
- Epic Stented Tissue Valve$297
- Trifecta Tissue Heart Valve$157
- Hillrom - Spot Vision Screener$145
- EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYSTEM WITH VISITRAX$143
- Hancock$101
How this compares
$30,508 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 546 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in California.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in California →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Torsemide | 12 | $102 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 13 | $32 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Redwood City
- Thomas FogartyPortola Valley$3.7M
- Steven GundryPalm Springs$1.6M
- Armin KiankhooySaint Helena$941K
- Ara KlijianMurrieta$916K
- Gregory FontanaThousand Oaks$875K
- Gansevoort DunningtonSaint Helena$764K
- Wilson TsaiWalnut Creek$680K
- Fernando FleischmanLos Angeles$608K
- Harmik SoukiasianLos Angeles$577K
- Ali KhoynezhadLong Beach$476K
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.