Salvatore Buttaci-Guarino, MD
Interventional Cardiology · Covington, LANPI 1013914050
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 210 payments — averaging $22.54 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Bayer$440
- Merck$365
- Amgen$359
- Johnson & Johnson$329
- Novo Nordisk$306
- Shockwave Medical, Inc$285
- plus $3K from 33 others
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$4,734100%
Most of this is food and beverage — typically meals provided during product presentations at a clinic or hospital. Nationally that is the single largest category of reported payments by count.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bayer | 18 | $440 |
| Merck | 16 | $365 |
| Amgen | 18 | $359 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 16 | $329 |
| Novo Nordisk | 21 | $306 |
| Shockwave Medical, Inc | 3 | $285 |
| Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC | 12 | $265 |
| Novartis | 14 | $214 |
| Cardiovascular Systems Inc. | 3 | $174 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 2 | $167 |
| Abiomed | 2 | $163 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 9 | $156 |
| Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc. | 3 | $148 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 10 | $144 |
| Abbott | 6 | $141 |
| Amarin Pharma, Inc. | 7 | $110 |
| Pfizer | 6 | $107 |
| Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc. | 4 | $102 |
| Penumbra, Inc. | 5 | $96 |
| Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. | 5 | $74 |
| Kestra Medical Technology Services, Inc. | 3 | $66 |
| Angiodynamics, Inc. | 1 | $65 |
| Philips North America LLC | 3 | $63 |
| AstraZeneca | 5 | $62 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $43 |
| Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, PLC | 2 | $43 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 3 | $39 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Contego Medical, Inc | 1 | $22 |
| Astellas Pharma US Inc | 1 | $20 |
| Boston Scientific | 1 | $20 |
| GSK | 1 | $17 |
| Dexcom, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Gilead | 1 | $16 |
| Silk Road Medical, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Arbor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Irhythm Technologies, Inc. | 1 | $12 |
| CMP Pharma, 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.
- Shockwave IVL System with the Shockwave C2 Coronary IVL Catheter$249
- Impella$143
- XARELTO$125
- Peripheral Orbital Atherectomy System$120
- WINREVAIR$118
- Repatha$117
- UPTRAVI$115
- OPSUMIT$115
- Kerendia$112
- MULTAQ$106
How this compares
$4,734 in reported general payments places this provider in the 25th percentile of 171 interventional cardiology providers in Louisiana.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| EliquisApixaban | 78 | $78,950 |
| XareltoRivaroxaban | 27 | $17,865 |
| JardianceEmpagliflozin | 18 | $16,714 |
| Repatha SureclickEvolocumab | 30 | $15,614 |
| NexlizetBempedoic Acid/Ezetimibe | 22 | $10,570 |
| FarxigaDapagliflozin Propanediol | 12 | $10,325 |
| Valsartan | 76 | $2,104 |
| Rosuvastatin Calcium | 140 | $2,035 |
| Ezetimibe | 98 | $1,965 |
| Metoprolol Succinate | 128 | $1,942 |
| ClopidogrelClopidogrel Bisulfate | 169 | $1,931 |
| Bisoprolol Fumarate | 25 | $1,680 |
| Ranolazine ErRanolazine | 18 | $764 |
| Amlodipine Besylate | 168 | $758 |
| Spironolactone | 89 | $729 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Companies that both paid and supply prescribed drugs
These companies both reported payments to this provider and make drugs the provider prescribed under Medicare Part D in 2024. For most specialties this overlap is expected — a cardiologist who is paid by a cardiology drugmaker also treats heart disease. It is shown so the reader can see it, not because it implies anything on its own.
| Company | Paid to this provider | Part D cost of their drugs |
|---|---|---|
| PfizerEliquis | $107 | $78,95078 claims |
| Johnson & JohnsonXarelto | $329 | $17,86527 claims |
| Boehringer IngelheimJardiance | $144 | $16,71418 claims |
| Esperion Therapeutics, Inc.Nexlizet | $74 | $10,57022 claims |
| AstraZenecaFarxiga | $62 | $10,32512 claims |
Reading this fairly. The Part D column is what drug plans and patients paid pharmacies — this provider received none of it, and it reflects how many patients they treat and what those drugs cost. Against peers, this provider's reported payments sit in the 25th percentile of 171 interventional cardiology providers in Louisiana.
Other interventional cardiology in Covington
- Pramod MenonCovington$197K
- Frank ArenaCovington$155K
- George IsaCovington$81K
- Hamid SalamCovington$53K
- Craig WalkerHouma$5.5M
- Naseem JaffraniAlexandria$5.1M
- Mark NapoliMonroe$2.2M
- Stephen RameeNew Orleans$1.5M
- Denzil MoraesBaton Rouge$1.4M
- James JenkinsNew Orleans$1.2M
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.