Vicente Valero, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Aurora, CONPI 1104055128
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by education: $6,000 of the $9,765 with a category attached, or 61.4%. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 64.0% of it on its own, with 13 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $5,083 and has fallen 93.2% since, to $345 in 2025. That places this record below the midpoint for thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in CO, where the typical reported total is $8,306.
Across 46 payments — averaging $212.27 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$6K
- Atricure, Inc.$1K
- Abiomed$542
- Gilead$240
- Bolton Medical Inc$222
- Medtronic$198
- plus $1K from 8 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$190%
- Food & beverage$3,74638%
- Education$6,00061%
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 | 7 | $6,252 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 16 | $1,173 |
| Abiomed | 4 | $542 |
| Gilead | 1 | $240 |
| Bolton Medical Inc | 3 | $222 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $198 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 2 | $181 |
| Davol Inc. | 3 | $175 |
| Abbott | 2 | $161 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 2 | $157 |
| Novartis | 2 | $149 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 1 | $122 |
| Kls-martin L.p. | 1 | $98 |
| Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 1 | $95 |
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$6,108
- Impella$542
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$228
- CoreValve Evolut$198
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra Transcatheter Heart Valve$163
- Progel Applicator Spray Tips$139
- AMDS-Ascyrus Medical$129
- Epic$129
- Relay Plus$126
- Conformable TAG Thoracic Endoprosthesis$122
- ATRICLIP LAA EXCLUSION SYSTEM$121
- EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYSTEM WITH VISITRAX$120
How this compares
$9,765 in reported general payments places this provider in the 50th percentile of 72 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Colorado.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Colorado →
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 Aurora
- Robert MeguidAurora$114K
- Thomas ReeceAurora$110K
- Joseph ClevelandAurora$85K
- Jay PalAurora$79K
- Jordan HoffmanAurora$72K
- John MitchellAurora$52K
- Michael FirstenbergAurora$46K
- Muhammad AftabAurora$42K
- Nicholas TemanAurora$35K
- Jessica RoveAurora$32K
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.