Steven Romero, MD
Cardiovascular Disease · la Jolla, CANPI 1629049556
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 180 payments — averaging $133.89 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Philips North America LLC$12K
- Abbott$6K
- Medtronic$2K
- Boston Scientific$2K
- Edwards Lifesciences$939
- Novartis$154
- plus $564 from 13 others
Across 2 payments — averaging $154.60 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.
- Transmedics, Inc.$309
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$10,45043%
- Grants$9064%
- Travel & lodging$5,80624%
- Food & beverage$6,93929%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Philips North America LLC | 26 | $12,125 |
| Abbott | 76 | $6,351 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 20 | $2,265 |
| Boston Scientific | 16 | $1,703 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 13 | $939 |
| Novartis | 8 | $154 |
| Abiomed | 1 | $133 |
| Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc. | 5 | $87 |
| AstraZeneca | 3 | $51 |
| Pfizer | 2 | $51 |
| Cardiac Dimensions, Inc. | 1 | $41 |
| Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, PLC | 2 | $40 |
| GE HealthCare | 1 | $38 |
| Cvrx, Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 1 | $25 |
| Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. | 1 | $22 |
| Bristol Myers Squibb | 1 | $22 |
| Amgen | 1 | $14 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 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.
- (9520) IGT Devices Undivided$10,450
- Mitra Clip system$2,191
- IGT Devices Und$1,008
- MitraClip System$1,003
- MitraClip$829
- SAPIEN 3 Ultra RESILIA$331
- WATCHMAN Access System$246
- (9148) ICE 3D$245
- ONYX FRONTIER$176
- WATCHMAN FLX$167
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra Transcatheter Heart Valve$161
- CoreValve Evolut$150
- Impella$133
- (9525) Intracardiac Und$124
- Watchman$123
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve$108
How this compares
$24,101 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 2,184 cardiovascular disease 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.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| EliquisApixaban | 59 | $54,985 |
| EntrestoSacubitril/Valsartan | 15 | $15,088 |
| Repatha SureclickEvolocumab | 11 | $6,066 |
| Atorvastatin Calcium | 34 | $407 |
| Rosuvastatin Calcium | 12 | $195 |
| Carvedilol | 13 | $107 |
| Lisinopril | 19 | $76 |
| Amlodipine Besylate | 15 | $52 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Companies that both paid and supply prescribed drugs
These companies both reported payments to this provider and make drugs the provider prescribed under Medicare Part D in 2024. For most specialties this overlap is expected — a cardiologist who is paid by a cardiology drugmaker also treats heart disease. It is shown so the reader can see it, not because it implies anything on its own.
| Company | Paid to this provider | Part D cost of their drugs |
|---|---|---|
| PfizerEliquis | $51 | $54,98559 claims |
| NovartisEntresto | $154 | $15,08815 claims |
Reading this fairly. The Part D column is what drug plans and patients paid pharmacies — this provider received none of it, and it reflects how many patients they treat and what those drugs cost. Against peers, this provider's reported payments sit in the 80th percentile of 2,184 cardiovascular disease providers in California.
Other cardiovascular disease in la Jolla
- Pam Taubla Jolla$3.2M
- Eric Topolla Jolla$2.2M
- Douglas Gibsonla Jolla$2.2M
- Ted LoveHillsborough$102.8M
- Matthew BudoffTorrance$11.3M
- Lori DanielsSan Diego$10.2M
- Paul KurthSanta Barbara$6.1M
- Michael BlumSan Francisco$5.5M
- Tony ChouSan Francisco$5.2M
- Jason RogersSacramento$5.1M
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.