Stephen Spindel, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · New Orleans, LANPI 1225386725
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
13 manufacturers reported payments, led by Artivion, Inc. at 39.1% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $2,708, 5.8 times the $466 reported in 2019. That places this record below the midpoint for thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in LA, where the typical reported total is $4,896.
Across 49 payments — averaging $112.82 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Artivion, Inc.$2K
- Atricure, Inc.$2K
- W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.$512
- Abiomed$294
- Corcym Inc$197
- Medtronic$139
- plus $465 from 7 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$3,23959%
- Food & beverage$2,28941%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Artivion, Inc. | 12 | $2,161 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 13 | $1,761 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 1 | $512 |
| Abiomed | 3 | $294 |
| Corcym Inc | 5 | $197 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 4 | $139 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 1 | $124 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 4 | $120 |
| Cvrx, Inc. | 1 | $109 |
| Abbott | 2 | $42 |
| United Therapeutics Corporation | 1 | $32 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 1 | $23 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $15 |
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.
- AMDS-Ascyrus Medical$1,696
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$1,039
- GORE TAG Thoracic Endoprosthesis$512
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$413
- Cardiac non-SynerGraft$398
- BIOGLUE SURGICAL ADHESIVE$280
- CRYOVALVE SG PULMONARY HUMAN HEART VALVE$280
- ON-X AORTIC HEART VALVE WITH CONFORM-X SEWING RING AND EXTENDED HOLDER$280
- PHOTOFIX DECELLULARIZED BOVINE PERICARDIUM$180
- EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYS$134
- ATRICURE ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION$134
- Barostim Neo System$109
How this compares
$5,528 in reported general payments places this provider in the 50th percentile of 75 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Louisiana.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) 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.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in New Orleans
- Aditya BansalNew Orleans$140K
- Brian PettifordNew Orleans$35K
- Korie JonesNew Orleans$19K
- Patrick ParrinoNew Orleans$11K
- William RisherNew Orleans$7K
- Jordan DozierNew Orleans$5K
- Eugene KukuyNew Orleans$4K
- Michael WeaverNew Orleans$3K
- Inder MehtaNew Orleans$3K
- Saket SinghNew Orleans$2K
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.