Has Mark Helmers, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $31,945 in general payments to Mark Helmers, MD across 175 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Mark Helmers, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Mark Helmers, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Mark Helmers, MD

Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Atlanta, GANPI 1518207018

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (40.3%), food and beverage and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 17 manufacturers reported payments, led by Edwards Lifesciences at 59.7% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $17,828, 5.8 times the $3,093 reported in 2019.

$31,945in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 175 payments — averaging $182.55 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Edwards Lifesciences$19K
Atricure, Inc.$4K
Medtronic$3K
W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.$2K
Bolton Medical Inc$2K
Artivion, Inc.$900
plus $2K from 11 others

What the payments were for

Consulting fees$12,88040%
Travel & lodging$8,91628%
Food & beverage$9,37029%
Education$7802%

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
Edwards Lifesciences	59	$19,073
Atricure, Inc.	34	$3,586
Medtronic(2 entities)	20	$2,789
W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.	10	$1,809
Bolton Medical Inc	11	$1,674
Artivion, Inc.	10	$900
Baxter Healthcare	9	$724
Abbott	6	$566
Medical Device Business Services, Inc.	6	$399
Corcym Inc	2	$147
Zimmer Biomet	1	$125
La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company	2	$34
Stryker	1	$33
Getinge USA Sales, LLC	1	$33
Johnson & Johnson	1	$23
ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp)	1	$18
Lemaitre Vascular, Inc.	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.

How this compares

$31,945 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 144 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Georgia.

See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Georgia →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$72,976

Medicare patients

Services billed

131

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
ClopidogrelClopidogrel Bisulfate	18	$132

Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.

Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Atlanta

Manu SanchetiAtlanta$805K
John PuskasAtlanta$332K
Douglas MurphyAtlanta$254K
Ezequiel MolinaAtlanta$215K
Gaetano PaoneAtlanta$134K
Michael HalkosAtlanta$102K
Allan PickensAtlanta$87K
Bradley LeshnowerAtlanta$63K
Kimberly HolstAtlanta$52K
William KeelingAtlanta$49K

See the full list for Georgia →

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.

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