Robert Dowling, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Cincinnati, OHNPI 1023065018
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — speaking fees (47.4%), travel and lodging and consulting fees — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Abiomed accounts for 89.0% of it on its own, with 20 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2024 at $43,203 and has fallen 64.4% since, to $15,378 in 2025.
Across 166 payments — averaging $494.70 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Abiomed$73K
- Transmedics, Inc.$4K
- Abbott$2K
- Atricure, Inc.$1K
- Briohealth Solutions, Inc.$301
- W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.$282
- plus $1K from 15 others
Across 12 payments — averaging $6504.13 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- Briohealth Solutions, Inc.$58K
- Radiometer America, Inc$20K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$10,45013%
- Speaking & faculty fees$38,95047%
- Travel & lodging$25,14931%
- Food & beverage$7,5719%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Abiomed | 70 | $73,055 |
| Transmedics, Inc. | 5 | $3,524 |
| Abbott | 26 | $2,129 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 30 | $1,488 |
| Briohealth Solutions, Inc. | 4 | $301 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 2 | $282 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 3 | $237 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 2 | $195 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 6 | $188 |
| Cerus Corporation | 1 | $172 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 3 | $158 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 3 | $131 |
| Teleflex LLC | 2 | $80 |
| Picard Medical Inc. | 1 | $38 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 2 | $29 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $27 |
| Philips North America LLC | 1 | $22 |
| LSI Solutions Inc | 1 | $21 |
| Legacy Ortho LLC | 1 | $16 |
| Chiesi USA, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | 1 | $12 |
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.
- Impella$59,762
- ORGAN CARE SYSTEM$3,524
- THORATEC HEARTMATE 3 LVAS IMPLANT KIT$1,300
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$320
- HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Dev$263
- BRIOVAD$254
- Product in Development$250
- INTERCEPT BLOOD SYSTEM FOR PLATELETS$172
- CARDIOMEMS$164
- CRYOVALVE SG PULMONARY HUMAN HEART VALVE$160
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM (CRYO2)$147
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$147
- EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYSTEM WITH VISITRAX$147
- LifeVest$116
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve$116
How this compares
$82,120 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th 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.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Cincinnati
- Robert AdamsCincinnati$321K
- Louis BrunstingCincinnati$210K
- David MoralesCincinnati$163K
- John SmithCincinnati$153K
- Kathryn O'KeefeCincinnati$123K
- Julian Guitron-RoigCincinnati$85K
- Saad HasanCincinnati$35K
- Carmen TugulanCincinnati$32K
- Mohi MitiekCincinnati$25K
- Cristiano SpadaccioCincinnati$21K
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.