Timothy Hunter, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Augusta, GANPI 1538268487
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
Abbott accounts for 67.4% of it on its own, with 31 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $10,412 and has fallen 85.4% since, to $1,520 in 2025.
Across 351 payments — averaging $61.91 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Abbott$15K
- Edwards Lifesciences$3K
- Atricure, Inc.$1K
- Abiomed$476
- Getinge USA Sales, LLC$440
- Johnson & Johnson$240
- plus $2K from 26 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$10,46748%
- Food & beverage$11,26352%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Abbott | 128 | $14,649 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 92 | $2,974 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 38 | $1,293 |
| Abiomed | 10 | $476 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 11 | $440 |
| Johnson & Johnson(3 entities) | 13 | $240 |
| Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corporation | 4 | $190 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 7 | $189 |
| LSI Solutions Inc | 5 | $129 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 5 | $127 |
| Boston Scientific | 5 | $104 |
| Davol Inc. | 3 | $100 |
| Cvrx, Inc. | 2 | $94 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 5 | $91 |
| Stryker | 3 | $91 |
| Lemaitre Vascular, Inc. | 1 | $88 |
| Inari Medical, Inc. | 1 | $73 |
| Livanova USA, Inc. | 1 | $52 |
| Haemonetics Corporation | 2 | $40 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $38 |
| Convatec Inc. | 2 | $34 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 1 | $29 |
| Hemosonics LLC | 2 | $29 |
| Team 1, LLC | 1 | $25 |
| Olympus America Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| Angiodynamics, Inc. | 1 | $19 |
| Pfizer | 1 | $18 |
| Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc. | 1 | $18 |
| Teleflex LLC | 1 | $17 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 1 | $17 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 1 | $16 |
| Cook Medical LLC | 1 | $11 |
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.
- HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Dev$9,100
- HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Assist Device$1,075
- THORATEC HEARTMATE 3 LVAS IMPLANT KIT$896
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$466
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$458
- Mitra Clip system$423
- KONECT RESILIA$284
- CardioMEMS HF System$182
- INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve$159
- EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYSTEM WITH VISITRAX$156
- Sarns$149
- Harvest$149
- MitraClip System$129
- MitraClip$110
How this compares
$21,731 in reported general payments places this provider in the 75th percentile of 144 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Georgia.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Georgia →
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 | 14 | $8,114 |
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 | $18 | $8,11414 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 75th percentile of 144 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Georgia.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Augusta
- Richard LeeAugusta$19K
- Vijaykumar PatelAugusta$16K
- Preston SparksAugusta$9K
- William KitchensAugusta$9K
- Dominic GalloAugusta$8K
- Jeremy LondonSavannah$1.6M
- Vinod ThouraniMarietta$1.2M
- Manu SanchetiAtlanta$805K
- John PuskasAtlanta$332K
- Douglas MurphyAtlanta$254K
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.