Sarah Palmer, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Minneapolis, MNNPI 1932547833
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (55.4%), travel and lodging and food and beverage — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Edwards Lifesciences accounts for 88.4% of it on its own, with 10 other manufacturers making up the rest. 2025 is the largest year on record at $14,528, 9.2 times the $1,577 reported in 2021. Among thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in MN with any reported payments, this total sits in the top 10% — high for the specialty, which is a reason to read the composition above rather than the number alone.
Across 108 payments — averaging $257.88 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Edwards Lifesciences$25K
- Medtronic$2K
- Atricure, Inc.$643
- Abbott$541
- Philips North America LLC$149
- Abiomed$140
- plus $161 from 5 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$15,43855%
- Travel & lodging$7,53427%
- Food & beverage$4,88018%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Edwards Lifesciences | 75 | $24,621 |
| Medtronic | 15 | $1,596 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 5 | $643 |
| Abbott | 4 | $541 |
| Philips North America LLC | 1 | $149 |
| Abiomed | 2 | $140 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 2 | $59 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 1 | $40 |
| Boehringer Ingelheim | 1 | $23 |
| Mylan Specialty L.p. | 1 | $22 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $17 |
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.
- INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve$3,576
- CoreValve Evolut$788
- KONECT RESILIA$786
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve$524
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$419
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$371
- COREVALVE EVOLUT R$319
- THORATEC HEARTMATE 3 LVAS IMPLANT KIT$195
- MitraClip$157
- MITRIS RESILIA Mitral Valve$154
- (9520) IGT Devices Undivided$149
- TRICLIP$139
- SAPIEN 3 Ultra RESILIA$136
- Impella$111
How this compares
$27,852 in reported general payments places this provider in the 90th percentile of 128 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Minnesota.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Minnesota →
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 Minneapolis
- Vinayak BapatMinneapolis$792K
- Benjamin SunMinneapolis$443K
- Nader MoazamiMinneapolis$28K
- Matthew GraczykMinneapolis$28K
- Amit BhargavaMinneapolis$27K
- Eric AndersonMinneapolis$24K
- Aitua SalamiMinneapolis$14K
- Robert SteffenMinneapolis$9K
- Sebastian Iturra UrriolaMinneapolis$9K
- Erik BeckmannMinneapolis$6K
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.