Provider records sourced from NPPES (CMS National Plan & Provider Enumeration System). Data current as of August 10, 2026.
NPIDirectory

Dr. Richard Earle Helmer IV, MD

Individual provider Specialist · NPI 1881898666

Dr. Richard Earle Helmer IV, MD practises Thoracic Surgery in Waco, Texas. Graduated from University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 2000, 26 years ago. Practices with Hillcrest Physician Services, a 113-clinician group and accepts Medicare assignment. Licensed in Texas.

Years since qualifying
26
Trained at
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Licensed in
TX
In the registry since
2007
Specialties on file
3
What do these letters mean?
MD — Doctor of Medicine
A physician who completed allopathic medical school.

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Practice location Address checks out

50 Hillcrest Medical Blvd
Waco, TX 76712-8952
Phone: (254) 202-0480
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Pin is approximate — placed at the ZIP-code centre, not the exact door.

Specialties & licences

Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) Physician (primary) Taxonomy 208G00000X · Licence L9237 (TX)
Specialist Taxonomy 174400000X · Licence L9237 (TX)
Vascular Surgery Physician Taxonomy 2086S0129X · Licence L9237 (TX)

Record details

NPI number1881898666
Entity typeIndividual (Type 1)
GenderMale
Credentials MD
Sole proprietorNo
NPI enumeratedJune 13, 2007
Last updated in NPPESMay 15, 2024
Certification dateMay 15, 2024

Medicare enrollment

From the CMS Doctors & Clinicians file — this clinician is enrolled in Medicare.

Medicare specialtyTHORACIC SURGERY
Also practisesVASCULAR SURGERY
Medical schoolUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDICAL BRANCH AT GALVESTON
Graduated 2000 (26 years in practice)
Group practice Hillcrest Physician Services — 113 clinicians
Accepts Medicare assignment Yes — accepts the Medicare-approved amount
Practice locations5 on file with Medicare

Procedures

From CMS Care Compare, which counts the procedures a clinician billed to Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage over a recent 12-month period. CMS reports a fixed list of common procedures, so this is not everything the clinician does. Counts of 10 or fewer are given as a range, because CMS withholds small numbers.

Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) 35 times · 88th percentile
Leg revascularization (restoring blood flow) 1–10 times
Pacemaker insertion or repair 1–10 times
Upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy for acid reflux 1–10 times

The percentile compares how often this clinician performed the procedure with other clinicians who performed it, as CMS calculates it. It measures volume, not outcomes or skill.

Medicare patients and services, 2024

From the CMS Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners file for calendar year 2024. It counts Original Medicare patients only, so a practice that mostly sees Medicare Advantage or privately insured patients looks smaller here than it is.

Medicare patients110
Services billed 302 a service is one billed item, such as a visit, a test or a procedure
Average patient age74

Dollar amounts are not shown. What Medicare pays a practice is gross billings, before staff, premises and tax and including the cost of any drugs it administers, so it is not what a clinician earns.

Payments from drug and device companies, 2025

Drug and device makers are required by federal law (the Physician Payments Sunshine Act) to report what they pay or give to clinicians, and CMS publishes the reports as Open Payments. This is the 2025 program year. A report is a record of a payment, not an allegation of anything, and many are small items such as meals. Only general payments are listed here; research payments and ownership or investment interests are reported separately by CMS and are not shown.

Food and Beverage $1,989 62 payments · a meal or drink at a meeting or visit, not a fee

Each amount is the sum of what companies reported for that kind of payment in 2025, rounded to the dollar. Not all of it is income to the clinician: a meal is not a fee, a charitable contribution goes to a charity, and a royalty or an acquisition payment is not a salary.

Check a report, or dispute one, at the source in CMS’s own tool, Open Payments. Corrections go through CMS’s dispute process. This site removes a home address on request and asks for no proof, because that is privacy; it will not remove an accurate payment report on request, because that is a statutory public disclosure.

Practises at

Facilities the CMS Facility Affiliation file lists for this clinician. Those with a page here are linked.

Colleagues at Hillcrest Physician Services

Clinicians the CMS Doctors & Clinicians file lists under the same group practice. CMS counts 113 clinicians in the practice; 12 are shown here.

Other providers in Waco