Has Wen Cheng, MD received payments from drug or device companies?

Yes. Drug and device makers reported $18,343 in general payments to Wen Cheng, MD across 40 transactions between 2019–2025. Most Open Payments records nationally are meals worth under $20; a reported payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Does a payment mean Wen Cheng, MD did something wrong?

No. Federal law requires drug and device makers to report almost every transfer of value to a physician, including a $14 sandwich at a lunch presentation. Consulting fees, research funding and royalties to device inventors are ordinary, legal parts of medicine. This site reports what was disclosed; it makes no allegation.

Where does this information about Wen Cheng, MD come from?

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Payments come from Open Payments, published under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Billing and prescribing figures come from the Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners and Part D Prescriber public use files for 2024.

Wen Cheng, MD

Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Los Angeles, CANPI 1073597043

Payments from drug & device makers

$18,343in general payments, 2019–2025

Across 40 payments — averaging $458.56 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.

Medtronic$15K
Edwards Lifesciences$1K
Abbott$934
Abiomed$150
Artivion, Inc.$132
AstraZeneca$119
plus $95 from 2 others

What the payments were for

Travel & lodging$60221%
Food & beverage$2,26378%
Education$251%

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
Medtronic(2 entities)	3	$15,493
Edwards Lifesciences	20	$1,420
Abbott	10	$934
Abiomed	1	$150
Artivion, Inc.	1	$132
AstraZeneca	1	$119
Atricure, Inc.	3	$72
Boston Scientific	1	$23

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.

How this compares

$18,343 in reported general payments places this provider in the 70th percentile of 546 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in California.

See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in California →

Medicare billing

Part B allowed, 2024

$682,182

Medicare patients

884

Services billed

1,300

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 Los Angeles

Fernando FleischmanLos Angeles$901K
Jay LeeLos Angeles$856K
Vaughn StarnesLos Angeles$771K
Harmik SoukiasianLos Angeles$737K
Abbas ArdehaliLos Angeles$630K
Richard SheminLos Angeles$392K
Fardad EsmailianLos Angeles$356K
Alfredo TrentoLos Angeles$335K
Raymond LeeLos Angeles$291K
Anthony KimLos Angeles$215K

See the full list for California →

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.

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