Pablo Ruda Vega, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Cleveland, OHNPI 1316551005
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — education (37.1%), consulting fees and food and beverage — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 27 manufacturers reported payments, led by Intuitive Surgical at 34.1% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $65,106, more than ten times the $165 reported in 2020. Among thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in OH with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 336 payments — averaging $290.50 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$33K
- Medtronic$26K
- Atricure, Inc.$22K
- Zimmer Biomet$9K
- Edwards Lifesciences$3K
- Bolton Medical Inc$754
- plus $3K from 21 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$18,37519%
- Speaking & faculty fees$15,29116%
- Travel & lodging$11,00511%
- Food & beverage$16,65317%
- Education$36,25037%
- Entertainment$330%
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 | 44 | $33,272 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 170 | $25,618 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 40 | $22,388 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 12 | $9,082 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 15 | $3,418 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 5 | $754 |
| Abiomed | 7 | $467 |
| Abbott | 4 | $427 |
| Johnson & Johnson(2 entities) | 7 | $380 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 5 | $227 |
| Corcym Inc | 1 | $215 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 2 | $208 |
| Stryker | 4 | $201 |
| La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company | 2 | $137 |
| Cook Medical LLC | 1 | $135 |
| Cook Incorporated | 1 | $125 |
| Hemosonics LLC | 1 | $108 |
| Clearflow Inc. | 1 | $98 |
| Lemaitre Vascular, Inc. | 2 | $88 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 2 | $62 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 2 | $47 |
| Teleflex LLC | 2 | $39 |
| Nexus Medical Technologies LLC | 1 | $33 |
| Argentum Medical | 2 | $33 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 1 | $18 |
| Terumo Medical Corporation | 1 | $16 |
| Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corporation | 1 | $11 |
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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$29,624
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$20,478
- Avalus$11,336
- Octopus$10,391
- A&E MEDICAL / STERNALOCK XP RIGID FIXATION SYSTEM$8,250
- STERNALOCK$4,250
- DAVINCI XI$3,000
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$898
- EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYSTEM WITH VISITRAX$519
- Penditure$444
- Impella$396
- Epic$369
- TREO ABDOMINAL STENT-GRAFT SYSTEM$297
- Contour 3D$280
- MC3 NAUTILUS(TM) ECMO OXYGENATOR$251
- Quantra QPlus System$216
- MI DETACH - AORTIC CROSS CLAMP - DELIVERY SYSTEM KIT$215
- THORAFLEX HYBRID$174
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM (CRYO2)$160
- FLOSEAL$154
How this compares
$97,607 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 245 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Ohio.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Ohio →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mupirocin | 16 | $75 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Cleveland
- Alejandro BribriescoCleveland$968K
- Alan Marc GillinovCleveland$926K
- Edward SolteszCleveland$835K
- Salil DeoCleveland$419K
- Tomislav MihaljevicCleveland$387K
- Christopher ToweCleveland$370K
- Eric RoselliCleveland$253K
- Cristian BaezaCleveland$237K
- Zhen-Yu TongCleveland$222K
- Sudish MurthyCleveland$120K
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.