Sandhya Balaram
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Brooklyn, NYNPI 1215926837
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $1,807 of the $2,890 with a category attached, or 62.5%. Abbott accounts for 67.4% of it on its own, with 8 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $1,723 and has fallen 68.4% since, to $544 in 2025. That places this record below the midpoint for thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in NY, where the typical reported total is $3,409.
Across 35 payments — averaging $82.57 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Abbott$2K
- Kestra Medical Technology Services, Inc.$375
- Atricure, Inc.$177
- Edwards Lifesciences$134
- Baxter Healthcare$90
- Cook Medical LLC$82
- plus $85 from 3 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$1,08337%
- Food & beverage$1,80763%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Abbott | 20 | $1,947 |
| Kestra Medical Technology Services, Inc. | 3 | $375 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 4 | $177 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 1 | $134 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 2 | $90 |
| Cook Medical LLC | 2 | $82 |
| Surgical Specialties Corporation (US), Inc. (dba Corza Medical) | 1 | $35 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $26 |
| Abiomed | 1 | $25 |
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.
- Mitra Clip system$1,039
- Assure WCD$276
- MitraClip$234
How this compares
$2,890 in reported general payments places this provider in the 45th percentile of 383 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in New York.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in New York →
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 Brooklyn
- Israel JacobowitzBrooklyn$529K
- Aubrey GallowayNew York$5.7M
- Gilbert TangNew York$842K
- Michael ZervosNew York$811K
- Elias ZiasNew York$465K
- Arthur MartellaRochester$431K
- Isaac GeorgeNew York$395K
- Eugene GrossiNew York$350K
- John GoncalvesMineola$332K
- Costas BizekisNew York$321K
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.