Nirmal Veeramachaneni, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Saint Louis, MONPI 1770629354
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — travel and lodging (38.0%), speaking fees and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 11 manufacturers reported payments, led by Covidien LP at 49.6% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $6,541 and has fallen 96.6% since, to $223 in 2025.
Across 40 payments — averaging $329.41 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Covidien LP$7K
- Medtronic$2K
- Genentech USA, Inc.$2K
- Intuitive Surgical$1K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$1K
- Lexington Medical, Inc.$198
- plus $466 from 5 others
Across 2 payments — averaging $6195.66 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.
- Novartis$12K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$1,69013%
- Speaking & faculty fees$4,88537%
- Travel & lodging$5,00738%
- Food & beverage$1,59412%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Covidien LP | 6 | $6,541 |
| Medtronic | 8 | $2,106 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 1 | $1,690 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 10 | $1,109 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 6 | $1,067 |
| Lexington Medical, Inc. | 1 | $198 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 4 | $132 |
| Davol Inc. | 1 | $120 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 1 | $116 |
| La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company | 1 | $72 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $25 |
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.
- Alecensa$1,690
- Da Vinci Surgical System$834
- Aeon Endostapler & Echelon Flex Powered Stapler$198
- Polysorb$148
- Phasix Mesh$120
- ILLUMISITE$119
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$116
How this compares
$13,177 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 113 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Missouri.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Missouri →
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 Saint Louis
- Tsuyoshi KanekoSaint Louis$353K
- Ralph DamianoSaint Louis$134K
- Puja KachrooSaint Louis$57K
- Umraan AhmadSaint Louis$51K
- Nabil MunfakhSaint Louis$44K
- Shuddhadeb RaySaint Louis$38K
- Joshua BakerSaint Louis$36K
- Alexander BresciaSaint Louis$35K
- Kunal Deepak KotkarSaint Louis$33K
- George PattersonSaint Louis$23K
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.