Scot Brewster, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · la Jolla, CANPI 1568469815
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $6,794 of the $10,889 with a category attached, or 62.4%. 21 manufacturers reported payments, led by Edwards Lifesciences at 52.1% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $4,465 and has fallen 79.4% since, to $921 in 2025.
Across 171 payments — averaging $63.68 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Edwards Lifesciences$6K
- Medtronic$2K
- Abbott$689
- Atricure, Inc.$623
- Baxter Healthcare$355
- Getinge USA Sales, LLC$268
- plus $1K from 15 others
Across 55 payments — averaging $3152.24 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$118K
- Edwards Lifesciences$56K
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$1,0009%
- Travel & lodging$3,09528%
- Food & beverage$6,79462%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Edwards Lifesciences | 49 | $5,674 |
| Medtronic(3 entities) | 28 | $2,184 |
| Abbott | 8 | $689 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 13 | $623 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 8 | $355 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 15 | $268 |
| Cvrx, Inc. | 21 | $207 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 3 | $187 |
| BD | 4 | $156 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 4 | $108 |
| La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company | 1 | $75 |
| Abiomed | 3 | $75 |
| LSI Solutions Inc | 3 | $66 |
| Davol Inc. | 2 | $60 |
| Kls-martin L.p. | 3 | $52 |
| Vertex | 1 | $25 |
| Aroa Biosurgery Incorporated | 1 | $22 |
| Stryker | 1 | $19 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $16 |
| Elevate Surgical Co | 1 | $16 |
| Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. | 1 | $14 |
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$2,168
- MITRIS RESILIA Mitral Valve$580
- MitraClip$430
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$279
- Carpentier-Edwards Physio II Annuloplasty Ring$216
- KONECT RESILIA$153
- EDWARDS INTUITY Elite valve system$151
- Epic Stented Tissue Valve$142
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra Transcatheter Heart Valve$139
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve$133
- FLOSEAL$123
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$122
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM (CRYO2)$122
- Apollo$116
How this compares
$10,889 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 546 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in California.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in California →
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 la Jolla
- Sam Baradarianla Jolla$53K
- Thomas FogartyPortola Valley$3.7M
- Steven GundryPalm Springs$1.6M
- Armin KiankhooySaint Helena$941K
- Ara KlijianMurrieta$916K
- Gregory FontanaThousand Oaks$875K
- Gansevoort DunningtonSaint Helena$764K
- Wilson TsaiWalnut Creek$680K
- Fernando FleischmanLos Angeles$608K
- Harmik SoukiasianLos Angeles$577K
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.