Vishal Kothari, MD
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — travel and lodging (42.1%), food and beverage and education — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 63.0% of it on its own, with 11 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $3,090 and has fallen 58.3% since, to $1,289 in 2025.
Across 68 payments — averaging $154.34 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$7K
- Davol Inc.$1K
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$841
- W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.$795
- BD$407
- Covidien LP$306
- plus $528 from 6 others
Across 5 payments — averaging $6356.78 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.
- Davol Inc.$32K
What the payments were for
- Speaking & faculty fees$4504%
- Travel & lodging$4,42142%
- Food & beverage$3,62435%
- Education$2,00019%
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 | $6,615 |
| Davol Inc. | 7 | $1,003 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 6 | $841 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 11 | $795 |
| BD | 3 | $407 |
| Covidien LP | 2 | $306 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 3 | $172 |
| AbbVie | 1 | $130 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $91 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $60 |
| Apollo Endosurgery US Inc | 1 | $39 |
| KARL Storz Endoscopy-america | 1 | $36 |
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$5,255
- DAVINCI XI$1,000
- LINX Reflux Management System$896
- Phasix Mesh$561
- Phasix Plug and Patch$450
- EndoFlip$306
- GORE ENFORM Preperitoneal Biomaterial$277
- GORE SEAMGUARD Bioabsorbable Staple Line Reinforce$134
- STRATTICE$130
- SYNECOR Biomaterial$120
How this compares
$10,495 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 197 surgery providers in Nebraska.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ibuprofen | 23 | $278 |
| Ondansetron OdtOndansetron | 13 | $106 |
| Gabapentin | 25 | $38 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other surgery in Omaha
- Dmitry OleynikovOmaha$180K
- Gary AnthoneOmaha$71K
- Moriah WrightOmaha$37K
- Andy YangOmaha$36K
- Brad WintersteinOmaha$30K
- Ali KhiabaniOmaha$29K
- Benjamin GramsOmaha$21K
- Thomas WhiteOmaha$19K
- Michael HoveyOmaha$19K
- Susanne SasseOmaha$16K
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.