Panayotis Vardas
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Birmingham, ALNPI 1801181649
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — speaking fees (26.6%), consulting fees and food and beverage — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 20 manufacturers reported payments, led by Medtronic at 55.1% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $14,349 and has fallen 50.3% since, to $7,138 in 2025.
Across 193 payments — averaging $253.13 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Medtronic$27K
- Edwards Lifesciences$8K
- Intuitive Surgical$6K
- Abbott$2K
- Artivion, Inc.$2K
- Atricure, Inc.$1K
- plus $3K from 14 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$12,20025%
- Speaking & faculty fees$13,00027%
- Travel & lodging$8,80218%
- Food & beverage$10,09321%
- Education$4,75910%
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) | 76 | $26,908 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 23 | $8,435 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 9 | $5,546 |
| Abbott | 20 | $1,682 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 9 | $1,629 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 23 | $1,239 |
| Stryker | 4 | $948 |
| Abiomed | 3 | $777 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 4 | $420 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 4 | $270 |
| La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company | 3 | $142 |
| Livanova USA, Inc. | 1 | $139 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 1 | $135 |
| Angiodynamics, Inc. | 1 | $134 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 3 | $124 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 1 | $113 |
| Elutia, Inc. | 2 | $108 |
| Kls-martin L.p. | 3 | $57 |
| Arthrex | 2 | $28 |
| Scpharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $19 |
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.
- Penditure$11,069
- Mosaic$8,020
- Simulus$5,964
- Da Vinci Surgical System$5,482
- MITRIS RESILIA Mitral Valve$1,427
- ON-X AORTIC HEART VALVE WITH CONFORM-X SEWING RING AND EXTENDED HOLDER$1,311
- Mitra Clip system$812
- Impella$647
- CORE$488
- CentriMag$295
- SONOPET IQ$289
- PerClot$272
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$263
- On-X$166
- INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve$163
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$162
- EDWARDS INTUITY Elite valve system$156
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve$149
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$139
- TandemLife$139
How this compares
$48,854 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 68 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Alabama.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Alabama →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oxycodone Hcl | 28 | $126 |
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 13 | $124 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Birmingham
- Kyle EudaileyBirmingham$184K
- Carlton RandlemanBirmingham$161K
- James DaviesBirmingham$99K
- Andrew PapoyBirmingham$63K
- Sara PereiraBirmingham$62K
- Clifton LewisBirmingham$47K
- Benjamin WeiBirmingham$18K
- Douglas MinnichBirmingham$10K
- John ThurberBirmingham$7K
- Sasha StillBirmingham$7K
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.