Vijaykumar Patel, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Augusta, GANPI 1922108976
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by travel and lodging: $10,261 of the $15,732 with a category attached, or 65.2%. 16 manufacturers reported payments, led by Atricure, Inc. at 28.4% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $7,632 and has fallen 94.8% since, to $397 in 2025.
Across 122 payments — averaging $128.95 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Atricure, Inc.$4K
- Medtronic$4K
- Abiomed$4K
- Angiodynamics, Inc.$2K
- Zimmer Biomet$894
- Abbott$366
- plus $807 from 10 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$10,26165%
- Food & beverage$5,44935%
- Education$210%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Atricure, Inc. | 28 | $4,474 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 26 | $3,834 |
| Abiomed | 24 | $3,619 |
| Angiodynamics, Inc. | 2 | $1,738 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 8 | $894 |
| Abbott | 13 | $366 |
| Solventum Corporation | 2 | $158 |
| Cvrx, Inc. | 2 | $136 |
| Inari Medical, Inc. | 1 | $128 |
| Electromed, Inc. | 6 | $102 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 2 | $67 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 2 | $62 |
| Teleflex LLC | 1 | $60 |
| Harmony Biosciences LLC | 2 | $41 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 2 | $35 |
| Hemosonics LLC | 1 | $17 |
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.
- EPI-SENSE GUIDED COAGULATION SYSTEM WITH VISITRAX$3,268
- Impella$3,054
- CoreValve Evolut$1,670
- Tri-Ad$1,604
- LARIAT RS$759
- RibFix Blu$758
- SYNERGY ABLATION SYSTEM$443
- ATRICURE CRYOICE CRYOSPHERE CRYOABLATION SYSTEM$165
- PREVENA$143
- V.A.C. VERAFLO CLEANSE CHOICE$143
- V.A.C. GRANUFOAM$143
- ACTIV.A.C.$143
- FLOWTRIEVER CATHETER, S$128
- CT THROMBECTOMY SYSTEM KIT$128
- Barostim Neo System$114
- HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Assist Device$104
How this compares
$15,732 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Warfarin Sodium | 19 | $165 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Augusta
- Timothy HunterAugusta$22K
- Richard LeeAugusta$19K
- 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.