Neal Kon, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Winston Salem, NCNPI 1992788699
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — speaking fees (55.8%), food and beverage and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Medtronic accounts for 72.7% of it on its own, with 11 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $9,557 and has fallen 85.5% since, to $1,382 in 2025.
Across 138 payments — averaging $171.06 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medtronic$17K
- Artivion, Inc.$3K
- Boston Scientific$1K
- Edwards Lifesciences$937
- Abiomed$837
- Atricure, Inc.$237
- plus $673 from 6 others
Across 53 payments — averaging $2267.65 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.
- Medtronic$106K
- Boston Scientific$14K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$2,93812%
- Speaking & faculty fees$13,17556%
- Travel & lodging$1,4296%
- Food & beverage$6,06426%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 83 | $17,167 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 5 | $2,706 |
| Boston Scientific | 6 | $1,049 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 21 | $937 |
| Abiomed | 13 | $837 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 4 | $237 |
| Hemosonics LLC | 1 | $200 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $120 |
| Abbott | 1 | $111 |
| On Target Laboratories, Inc | 1 | $104 |
| LSI Solutions Inc | 1 | $100 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 1 | $37 |
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.
- Freestyle$14,325
- On-X$2,000
- Avalus$906
- GENERAL - STRUCTURAL HEART$883
- Simulus$375
- Impella$275
- QUNATRA QPLUS SYSTEM$200
- COREVALVE EVOLUT R$161
- CG Future$146
- CoreValve Evolut$133
- COSEAL$120
- PREVELEAK$120
- Mosaic$116
- MitraClip$111
- Cytalux$104
- COR KNOT$100
How this compares
$23,606 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th 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.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Metoprolol Tartrate | 15 | $16 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Winston Salem
- Leonard WudelWinston Salem$92K
- Bartlomiej ImielskiWinston Salem$29K
- Peter SmitWinston Salem$20K
- Jesse MaddenWinston Salem$20K
- Adrian LataWinston Salem$11K
- Edward KincaidWinston Salem$10K
- Hadley WilsonWinston Salem$10K
- Joseph RubelowskyRaleigh$2.2M
- Matthew HartwigDurham$406K
- Gregory SmaroffNew Bern$205K
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.