Has Sean Wightman, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $7,140 in general payments to Sean Wightman, MD across 37 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Sean Wightman, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Sean Wightman, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Sean Wightman, MD

Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Los Angeles, CANPI 1174802755

Payments from drug & device makers

What this record shows

This record is dominated by education: $4,500 of the $7,140 with a category attached, or 63.0%. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 75.7% of it on its own, with 5 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2021 at $3,396 and has fallen 89.3% since, to $365 in 2025.

$7,140in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 37 payments — averaging $192.97 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Intuitive Surgical$5K
Medtronic$2K
Atricure, Inc.$42
Johnson & Johnson$38
On Target Laboratories, Inc$28
Pulmonx Corporation$24

$12,100in research payments, 2019–2025

Across 4 payments — averaging $3025.00 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.

Genentech, Inc.$12K

What the payments were for

Travel & lodging$77811%
Food & beverage$1,86226%
Education$4,50063%

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	13	$5,403
Medtronic	20	$1,606
Atricure, Inc.	1	$42
Johnson & Johnson	1	$38
On Target Laboratories, Inc	1	$28
Pulmonx Corporation	1	$24

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.

How this compares

$7,140 in reported general payments places this provider in the 55th percentile of 546 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in California.

See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in California →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$79,547

Medicare patients

182

Services billed

408

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 Los Angeles

Fernando FleischmanLos Angeles$608K
Harmik SoukiasianLos Angeles$577K
Jay LeeLos Angeles$462K
Raymond LeeLos Angeles$291K
Bryan BurtLos Angeles$138K
Harold TabaieLos Angeles$120K
Richard SheminLos Angeles$112K
Anthony KimLos Angeles$66K
Jonathan PraegerLos Angeles$60K
Craig BakerLos Angeles$58K

See the full list for California →

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.

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