Cardiac Surgery: industry payments
Drug and device makers reported $555,513 in payments to providers registered in this specialty across Open Payments program years 2019–2025.
- Providers
- 26
- Received a payment
- 20 (76.9%)
- Total reported
- $556K
- Average, those paid
- $27,776
The average is computed only over providers who received something, because including the 6 who received nothing would produce a number that describes neither group. Totals are dominated by a small number of large royalty and consulting arrangements; the typical payment in this specialty is far smaller than the average implies.
What Medicare pays cardiac surgery clinicians
Across 26 cardiac surgery clinicians who billed Original Medicare Part B in 2024, Medicare allowed $2,750,842 in total — an average of $105,802 each, of which $105,802 was for services and the rest for drugs administered in the office.
This is not a salary. The rest is what Medicare allowed for services these clinicians billed — Original Medicare fee-for-service only. It excludes Medicare Advantage, which now covers more than half of Medicare enrollees, along with Medicaid and every commercial insurer, so for most clinicians it is a fraction of their practice. It is also gross revenue: staff, rent, supplies and malpractice premiums all come out of it before anyone is paid. Anyone quoting a figure like this as physician pay is misreading it.
By state
| State | Providers | Total reported | Per provider |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 2 | $153,292 | $76,646 |
| Florida | 4 | $126,609 | $31,652 |
| Arkansas | 2 | $107,184 | $53,592 |
| Maryland | 2 | $89,494 | $44,747 |
| Kansas | 1 | $36,997 | $36,997 |
| New York | 4 | $18,421 | $4,605 |
| Georgia | 1 | $11,534 | $11,534 |
| Oklahoma | 2 | $6,522 | $3,261 |
| Louisiana | 1 | $3,396 | $3,396 |
| Massachusetts | 1 | $1,343 | $1,343 |
| Minnesota | 1 | $527 | $527 |
| California | 2 | $195 | $98 |
| Pennsylvania | 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Ohio | 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Tennessee | 1 | $0 | $0 |