Medtronic’s payment disclosure plan
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Medtronic will begin annually disclosing payments made to U.S. physicians in March 2011, the firm announces Feb. 24. Medtronic joins Edwards Lifesciences and a handful of drug firms in opting to publicly report physician payments ahead of a possible mandate from Congress, though both device firms set a less stringent reporting bar. Like Edwards, Medtronic will report payments made to physicians who receive $5,000 or more in consulting fees, royalties and honoraria from the firm (1"The Gray Sheet" Jan. 5, 2009, p. 23). Medtronic will start capturing payment data on Jan. 1, 2010, with annual third-party auditing. The latest version of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, introduced Jan. 22, would require disclosure of all payments to a physician exceeding $100 in a year (2"The Gray Sheet" Jan. 26, 2009, p. 8)