Nicolas Contreras, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Salt Lake City, UTNPI 1790135614
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — education (52.8%), travel and lodging and food and beverage — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 68.2% of it on its own, with 8 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2022 at $5,596 and has fallen 98.3% since, to $97 in 2025.
Across 52 payments — averaging $263.26 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$9K
- Edwards Lifesciences$2K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$522
- Covidien LP$504
- Zimmer Biomet$432
- Atricure, Inc.$359
- plus $538 from 3 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$4,44933%
- Food & beverage$2,01115%
- Education$7,22953%
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 | 16 | $9,332 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 11 | $2,002 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 6 | $522 |
| Covidien LP | 5 | $504 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 5 | $432 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 5 | $359 |
| Medela LLC | 2 | $317 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 1 | $124 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $97 |
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$4,000
- ION$3,000
- Da Vinci Surgical System$2,201
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve$552
- Art. 101030215 Thopaz+ Chest Drainage$306
- ProGrip$226
- MEDLINE$193
- AdvantageRib$166
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$147
- EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYSTEM WITH VISITRAX$132
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$132
- TREO ABDOMINAL STENT-GRAFT SYSTEM$124
How this compares
$13,689 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 46 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Utah.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Utah →
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.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Salt Lake City
- Jason GlotzbachSalt Lake City$45K
- Ganesh KumpatiSalt Lake City$14K
- John StringhamSalt Lake City$14K
- David AffleckSalt Lake City$14K
- Vikas SharmaSalt Lake City$14K
- Rafe ConnorsSalt Lake City$13K
- Praveen SridharSalt Lake City$10K
- Guilherme Czelusniak de OliveiraSalt Lake City$8K
- Ammar AsbanSalt Lake City$8K
- Rachael EssigSalt Lake City$6K
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.