Has Ross Reul, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $16,645 in general payments to Ross Reul, MD across 139 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Ross Reul, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Ross Reul, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Ross Reul, MD

Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Houston, TXNPI 1972690428

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (54.2%), food and beverage and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 23 manufacturers reported payments, led by Atricure, Inc. at 36.7% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $5,601 and has fallen 92.7% since, to $411 in 2025.

$16,645in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 139 payments — averaging $119.75 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Atricure, Inc.$6K
Medtronic$3K
Baxter Healthcare$3K
Bolton Medical Inc$2K
Abbott$713
Edwards Lifesciences$588
plus $2K from 17 others

$69,986in research payments, 2019–2025

Across 5 payments — averaging $13,997 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.

Medtronic$57K
Atricure, Inc.$13K

What the payments were for

Consulting fees$9,02054%
Travel & lodging$6134%
Food & beverage$7,01242%

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
Atricure, Inc.	13	$6,116
Medtronic(2 entities)	18	$3,061
Baxter Healthcare	10	$2,732
Bolton Medical Inc	18	$1,506
Abbott	29	$713
Edwards Lifesciences	10	$588
Livanova USA, Inc.	3	$266
Angiodynamics, Inc.	2	$249
Boston Scientific	5	$225
Abiomed	2	$221
Getinge USA Sales, LLC	13	$169
Bone Support Inc.	1	$153
Philips North America LLC	1	$113
Zimmer Biomet	1	$96
Johnson & Johnson	3	$81
AstraZeneca	1	$72
Cook Medical LLC	1	$67
W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.	1	$67
Medinc Of Texas	2	$47
Kls-martin L.p.	2	$42
Surmodics, Inc.	1	$29
Lemaitre Vascular, Inc.	1	$21
Amgen	1	$13

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.

SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$5,399
No Related Product$2,145
Avalus$1,386
Grafts$677
Simulus$563
Relay Grafts$465
ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$337
Impella$221
ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$187
AngioVac$156
CERAMENTBONE VOID FILLER$153
CERAMENT G$153
INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve$150
FLOSEAL$135
Epic$126
COREVALVE EVOLUT R$124
PREVELEAK$122
Perceval$119
(BQ9) Coronary IVUS$113
Edwards SAPIEN 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve$107

How this compares

$16,645 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 424 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Texas.

See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Texas →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$208,169

Medicare patients

Services billed

265

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 Houston

Michael ReardonHouston$713K
Danny RamzyHouston$527K
Randall WolfHouston$283K
Min KimHouston$185K
Marc MoonHouston$142K
Ismael Salas de ArmasHouston$121K
Shawn GrothHouston$110K
Mahesh RamchandaniHouston$110K
Gabriel LoorHouston$106K
Mara AntonoffHouston$104K

See the full list for Texas →

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.

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