Ryan Shelstad, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Lincoln, NENPI 1619149119
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $19,000 of the $28,661 with a category attached, or 66.3%. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 79.9% of it on its own, with 14 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $23,936 and has fallen 98.7% since, to $322 in 2025.
Across 132 payments — averaging $217.13 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$23K
- Atricure, Inc.$2K
- Abbott$1K
- Medtronic$838
- Zimmer Biomet$542
- Edwards Lifesciences$499
- plus $808 from 9 others
Across 11 payments — averaging $8572.29 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.
- Solventum Corporation$94K
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$5002%
- Travel & lodging$4,87417%
- Food & beverage$4,28715%
- Education$19,00066%
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 | 33 | $22,901 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 21 | $2,040 |
| Abbott | 7 | $1,035 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 20 | $838 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 13 | $542 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 10 | $499 |
| Abiomed | 11 | $428 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 7 | $70 |
| Cvrx, Inc. | 3 | $68 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 2 | $57 |
| Livanova USA, Inc. | 1 | $57 |
| Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. | 1 | $43 |
| Sanara Medtech Inc. | 1 | $33 |
| BD | 1 | $29 |
| KCI USA, Inc. | 1 | $20 |
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.
- DAVINCI XI$19,000
- Da Vinci Surgical System$3,211
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$1,267
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM (CRYO2)$845
- Trifecta GT Tissue Heart Valve$500
- Epic$409
- AdvantageRib$246
- CoreValve Evolut$238
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$194
- COREVALVE EVOLUT R$116
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$111
How this compares
$28,661 in reported general payments places this provider in the 85th percentile of 29 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Nebraska.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Nebraska →
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 Lincoln
- Richard ThompsonLincoln$55K
- Robert OakesLincoln$5K
- Andrew GoldsteinLincoln$3K
- Deepak GangaharLincoln$125
- Helenmari MerrittOmaha$287K
- John BatterOmaha$29K
- Kim DuncanOmaha$23K
- David BerkheimOmaha$20K
- John UmOmaha$16K
- Karin TrujilloOmaha$16K
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.