Trent Howard, DO
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Vestavia, ALNPI 1851686091
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — education (38.7%), food and beverage and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 28 manufacturers reported payments, led by Intuitive Surgical at 54.6% of the total.
Across 205 payments — averaging $116.49 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$13K
- Medtronic$4K
- Edwards Lifesciences$3K
- Atricure, Inc.$1K
- Abbott$777
- Silk Road Medical, Inc.$761
- plus $2K from 22 others
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$2001%
- Travel & lodging$6,06825%
- Food & beverage$8,37335%
- Education$9,24039%
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 | 31 | $13,036 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 65 | $3,635 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 15 | $2,949 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 30 | $1,175 |
| Abbott | 6 | $777 |
| Silk Road Medical, Inc. | 6 | $761 |
| Elutia, Inc. | 5 | $385 |
| Chiesi USA, Inc. | 12 | $196 |
| Abiomed | 2 | $195 |
| Conmed Corporation | 2 | $128 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 6 | $110 |
| Livanova USA, Inc. | 4 | $73 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 2 | $66 |
| Covidien LP | 1 | $66 |
| Cvrx, Inc. | 4 | $52 |
| Avanos Medical | 2 | $48 |
| Angiodynamics, Inc. | 1 | $35 |
| Biom'up SA | 1 | $27 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $24 |
| Davol Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Kls-martin L.p. | 1 | $21 |
| Cook Medical LLC | 1 | $16 |
| Lemaitre Vascular, Inc. | 1 | $15 |
| Merit Medical Systems Inc | 1 | $15 |
| Merck | 1 | $15 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1 | $13 |
| Olympus America Inc. | 1 | $12 |
| Veran Medical Technologies, Inc. | 1 | $12 |
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.
- Da Vinci Surgical System$10,997
- DAVINCI XI$1,500
- INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve$712
- ENROUTE Transcarotid Neuroprotection System$592
- ENROUTE Transcarotid Stent System$592
- ENHANCE Transcarotid Peripheral Access Kit$592
- ENROUTE 0.014 Guidewire$592
- Endurant$570
- Valiant Captivia$457
- ENDURANT IIS$385
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$373
- EDWARDS INTUITY Elite valve system$306
- ECM Patch,Pouch$267
- MITRIS RESILIA Mitral Valve$245
- Carpentier-Edwards Physio II Annuloplasty Ring$203
- Trifecta GT Tissue Heart Valve$200
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$182
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$164
- Epic Stented Tissue Valve$163
- MitraClip$135
How this compares
$23,881 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 68 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Alabama.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Alabama →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Chlorhexidine Gluconate | 51 | $200 |
| Oxycodone Hcl | 18 | $98 |
| Oxycodone-AcetaminophenOxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 21 | $87 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 16 | $45 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Vestavia
- Parvez SultanVestavia$81K
- Tyler WahlVestavia$53K
- Joseph MartinezVestavia$10K
- Kyle EudaileyBirmingham$184K
- Carlton RandlemanBirmingham$161K
- James DaviesBirmingham$99K
- Frans VanwagenbergHuntsville$68K
- Andrew PapoyBirmingham$63K
- Sara PereiraBirmingham$62K
- Panayotis VardasBirmingham$49K
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.