Whitney Brandt, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Saint Louis, MONPI 1700205622
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — education (57.0%), travel and lodging and grants — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. Intuitive Surgical accounts for 78.0% of it on its own, with 6 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2023 at $6,610 and has fallen 72.4% since, to $1,822 in 2025.
Across 31 payments — averaging $283.00 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Intuitive Surgical$7K
- Medtronic$1K
- Edwards Lifesciences$217
- Artivion, Inc.$167
- Medical Device Business Services, Inc.$125
- AstraZeneca$118
- plus $71 from 1 others
What the payments were for
- Grants$1,23514%
- Travel & lodging$1,46517%
- Food & beverage$1,07212%
- Education$5,00057%
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 | 23 | $6,840 |
| Medtronic | 1 | $1,235 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 3 | $217 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 1 | $167 |
| Medical Device Business Services, Inc. | 1 | $125 |
| AstraZeneca | 1 | $118 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 1 | $71 |
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
$8,773 in reported general payments places this provider in the 65th percentile of 113 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Missouri.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Missouri →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oxycodone Hcl | 14 | $84 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) in Saint Louis
- Tsuyoshi KanekoSaint Louis$353K
- Ralph DamianoSaint Louis$134K
- Puja KachrooSaint Louis$57K
- Umraan AhmadSaint Louis$51K
- Nabil MunfakhSaint Louis$44K
- Shuddhadeb RaySaint Louis$38K
- Joshua BakerSaint Louis$36K
- Alexander BresciaSaint Louis$35K
- Kunal Deepak KotkarSaint Louis$33K
- George PattersonSaint Louis$23K
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.