Medtronic, Inc. (Medtronic), a medical technology company, announced its commitment to voluntarily disclose payments to US physicians. The company will begin capturing payment data for all of its businesses on January 1, 2010 and will publicly report this information annually. The first disclosure will occur in March of 2011 and will address payments made to physicians during calendar year 2010.
The company will commission an annual third party audit to demonstrate its commitment to the accuracy of these postings, and will make a summary of the audit results public.
Consulting agreements include counsel for areas such as education and training, clinical trial design and administration, and product design and safety. The company currently plans to report these data on its company website. Medtronic will report the amount paid in consulting fees, royalties or honoraria for physicians who receive payments of $5,000 or more per year from Medtronic.
“Relationships between industry and doctors are essential to innovation, education and training in our industry.” said Bill Hawkins, chairman and chief executive officer. “Through greater transparency about the nature of these relationships, we will help people better understand how important they are to developing life-saving and enhancing products for patients who need them.”