Paul Saunders, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Valhalla, NYNPI 1114955317
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — food and beverage (58.0%), consulting fees and speaking fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Abbott accounts for 61.9% of it on its own, with 14 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2020 at $4,041 and has fallen 70.7% since, to $1,182 in 2025.
Across 154 payments — averaging $69.25 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Abbott$7K
- ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp)$1K
- Edwards Lifesciences$1K
- Abiomed$535
- Medtronic$488
- Axogen$286
- plus $336 from 9 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$2,75026%
- Speaking & faculty fees$1,0009%
- Travel & lodging$7107%
- Food & beverage$6,19158%
- Education$140%
Most of this is food and beverage — typically meals provided during product presentations at a clinic or hospital. Nationally that is the single largest category of reported payments by count.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Abbott | 101 | $6,605 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 12 | $1,332 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 11 | $1,084 |
| Abiomed | 8 | $535 |
| Medtronic | 9 | $488 |
| Axogen | 2 | $286 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 3 | $80 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 1 | $72 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $42 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 1 | $35 |
| CSL Behring | 1 | $33 |
| Fresenius USA Marketing, Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Cook Medical LLC | 1 | $23 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $16 |
| Biocomposites Inc | 1 | $10 |
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.
- HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Dev$2,237
- THORATEC HEARTMATE 3 LVAS IMPLANT KIT$1,420
- LifeVest$1,100
- CardioMEMS HF System$750
- COREVALVE EVOLUT R$341
- AVANCE NERVE GRAFT$286
- 2ND GEN CENTRIMAG PRIMARY CONSOLE$174
- Impella$151
- SAPIEN 3 Ultra RESILIA$144
- HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Assist Device$142
- HeartMate$127
- Circulatory Support$127
- CentriMag$107
How this compares
$10,665 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 383 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in New York.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in New York →
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 Valhalla
- Aubrey GallowayNew York$5.7M
- Gilbert TangNew York$842K
- Michael ZervosNew York$811K
- Israel JacobowitzBrooklyn$529K
- Elias ZiasNew York$465K
- Arthur MartellaRochester$431K
- Isaac GeorgeNew York$395K
- Eugene GrossiNew York$350K
- John GoncalvesMineola$332K
- Costas BizekisNew York$321K
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.