Ricardo Catala, MD
Surgery · Bayamon, PRNPI 1578681045
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — education (43.0%), travel and lodging and food and beverage — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 95.8% of it on its own, with 5 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2021 at $4,941 and has fallen 97.7% since, to $112 in 2025. Among surgery clinicians in PR 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 36 payments — averaging $258.67 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$9K
- Johnson And Johnson International$134
- Merck$100
- Stryker$94
- Johnson & Johnson$38
- Medtronic$21
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$3,50838%
- Food & beverage$1,77619%
- Education$4,00043%
- Gifts$290%
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 | 29 | $8,924 |
| Johnson And Johnson International | 2 | $134 |
| Merck | 1 | $100 |
| Stryker | 1 | $94 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $38 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $21 |
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$8,137
- ETHICON$112
- BRIDION$100
How this compares
$9,312 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 202 surgery providers in Puerto Rico.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tramadol Hcl-AcetaminophenTramadol Hcl/Acetaminophen | 52 | $296 |
| Ketorolac Tromethamine | 18 | $210 |
| Cefadroxil | 13 | $100 |
| Famotidine | 25 | $68 |
| Sulfamethoxazole-TrimethoprimSulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim | 12 | $55 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in Bayamon
- Miguel Baez StellaBayamon$48K
- Ariel BermudezBayamon$18K
- Emilio Perez de LeonBayamon$17K
- Luis A Rodriguez EscolaBayamon$8K
- Mario Bernal PablosBayamon$8K
- Alanna GuzmanBayamon$2K
- Luis GuaspMayaguez$148K
- Fernando Rivera CruzSan Juan$88K
- Laura Rodriguez RiveraPonce$73K
- Jorge Pelet MejiasSan Juan$50K
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.