William McAlexander, MD
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) · Knoxville, TNNPI 1073558524
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by food and beverage: $3,944 of the $4,843 with a category attached, or 81.4%. 23 manufacturers reported payments, led by Silk Road Medical, Inc. at 27.4% of the total. Reporting peaked in 2019 at $1,740 and has fallen 72.9% since, to $472 in 2025. That places this record below the midpoint for thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) clinicians in TN, where the typical reported total is $4,482.
Across 98 payments — averaging $49.42 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Silk Road Medical, Inc.$1K
- Atricure, Inc.$863
- Edwards Lifesciences$481
- Medtronic$344
- Angiodynamics, Inc.$224
- Zimmer Biomet$191
- plus $1K from 17 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$56912%
- Food & beverage$3,94481%
- Education$3307%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Silk Road Medical, Inc. | 11 | $1,326 |
| Atricure, Inc. | 36 | $863 |
| Edwards Lifesciences | 9 | $481 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 11 | $344 |
| Angiodynamics, Inc. | 2 | $224 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 2 | $191 |
| Boston Scientific | 2 | $171 |
| Baxter Healthcare | 1 | $125 |
| Abbott | 1 | $121 |
| Endologix LLC | 1 | $120 |
| Dilon Technologies, Inc. | 1 | $113 |
| Artivion, Inc. | 4 | $107 |
| Getinge USA Sales, LLC | 4 | $105 |
| Cvrx, Inc. | 2 | $102 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 3 | $94 |
| Elutia, Inc. | 1 | $85 |
| Abiomed | 1 | $68 |
| Intuitive Surgical | 1 | $54 |
| Biomerieux Inc | 1 | $50 |
| Convatec Inc. | 1 | $30 |
| Livanova USA, Inc. | 1 | $29 |
| W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. | 1 | $21 |
| ZOLL Services LLC (a/k/a ZOLL Lifecor Corp) | 1 | $18 |
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.
- ENROUTE Transcarotid Neuroprotection System$1,045
- ENROUTE Transcarotid Stent System$785
- ENHANCE Transcarotid Peripheral Access Kit$785
- ENROUTE 0.014 Guidewire$785
- ENROUTE Transcarotid Stent$260
- CoreValve Evolut$152
- Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra Transcatheter Heart Valve$147
- FLOSEAL$125
- NAVITOR$121
- Ovation$120
- AFX$120
- HemoBlast Bellows$113
- STERNALOCK$104
How this compares
$4,843 in reported general payments places this provider in the 50th percentile of 115 thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Tennessee.
See all thoracic surgery (cardiothoracic vascular surgery) providers in Tennessee →
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 Knoxville
- Christian ProbstKnoxville$25K
- Sean JordanKnoxville$8K
- Raymond DieterKnoxville$8K
- Christina GlennKnoxville$7K
- David GrahamKnoxville$6K
- Kimberly LindenKnoxville$6K
- Carlo Martinez TorresKnoxville$5K
- William WalkerKnoxville$4K
- Grayson WheatleyNashville$900K
- V ReddyNashville$760K
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.