Richard Lee, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Seattle, WANPI 1437476934
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
17 manufacturers reported payments, led by Edwards Lifesciences at 32.9% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $3,423 and has fallen 61.0% since, to $1,333 in 2025.
Across 68 payments — averaging $112.15 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Edwards Lifesciences$3K
- W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.$1K
- Atricure, Inc.$1K
- Medtronic$1K
- Inari Medical, Inc.$320
- Zimmer Biomet$196
- plus $816 from 11 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$3,97152%
- Food & beverage$3,65548%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Edwards Lifesciences | 25 | $2,511 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 8 | $1,372 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 11 | $1,304 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 6 | $1,106 |
| Inari Medical, Inc. | 1 | $320 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 2 | $196 |
| Shockwave Medical, Inc | 2 | $175 |
| Boston Scientific | 2 | $152 |
| KCI USA, Inc. | 1 | $118 |
| Biomerieux Inc | 1 | $90 |
| Abiomed | 2 | $74 |
| Haemonetics Corporation | 1 | $73 |
| Abbott | 2 | $56 |
| Corcym Inc | 1 | $28 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $21 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $15 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
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.
- TAG Thoracic Endoprosthesis$1,208
- INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve$848
- CoreValve Evolut$749
- ATRICURE SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$475
- EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYSTEM WITH VISITRAX$334
- KONECT RESILIA$330
- FLOWTRIEVER CATHETER, S$320
- CT THROMBECTOMY SYSTEM KIT$320
- Penditure$167
- STERNALOCK BLU SYSTEM$165
- Shockwave IVL System with the Shockwave C2 Coronary IVL Catheter$149
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$147
- COREVALVE EVOLUT R$141
- GENERAL VASCULAR ACCESS$123
- PREVENA$118
How this compares
$7,626 in reported general payments places this provider in the 60th percentile of 105 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Washington.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Washington →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Chlorhexidine Gluconate | 13 | $45 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Seattle
- Glenn BarnhartSeattle$577K
- Eric VallieresSeattle$202K
- Eric LehrSeattle$72K
- Thomas VargheseSeattle$22K
- Shakirat OyetunjiSeattle$21K
- Christopher BurkeSeattle$19K
- Mohamed EldeirySeattle$17K
- Ioannis John DemarakosSeattle$15K
- Peter WhiteSeattle$15K
- Joel SternbachSeattle$13K
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.