Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE:MDT), announced today that it has begun posting annual physician payments exceeding $5,000 on its company website. In addition, the company has adopted a series of new steps aimed to standardize and enhance its internal processes and procedures related to physician collaboration and compensation.

The actions follow on the company’s commitment in February 2009 to the voluntary disclosure of physician-services compensation on a quarterly basis beginning this spring, and its leadership in helping develop the trade industry’s AdvaMed Code of Ethics from 2002-2004, along with its support for the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act, a version of which was enacted as part of the Health Care Reform Law.

“Collaboration between physicians and industry remains crucial to innovation in the medical technology industry, and it has transformed millions of patients’ lives. Because such collaboration is so critical to our mission, it must be based on solid principles, in order to avoid the potential for real or perceived conflicts of interest,” said chairman and CEO Bill Hawkins. “As an industry leader, Medtronic wants to be at the forefront of helping to establish best practices that will enhance patient and public confidence in the collaborative model.”

Today, Medtronic began the previously announced quarterly disclosure on its company website of physician compensation for royalties and physician services totaling more than $5,000 annually. This voluntary disclosure will help the company prepare for the broader disclosure of physician payments mandated by the recently passed health care reform legislation, beginning in 2012. (Medtronic has been disclosing its grants and donations since 2008). The registry of physician payments can be accessed at www.medtronic.com/collaboration .

U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, D-Wis., Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging and a principal architect of the physician payment disclosure provisions in the health care bill said, "As part of health reform, Congress took a major step forward in strengthening the physician-patient relationship, by making public all potential conflicts of interst. In advance of upcoming federal disclosure requirements, I appreciate Medtronic's voluntary decision to stay ahead of the transparency curve."

Additionally, after months of examining industry and internal practices, the company has developed a comprehensive set of additional policies and procedures relating to physician collaboration and transparency that it is implementing across all of its businesses and multiple physician specialty areas, and a diverse portfolio of products and therapies.  The policies include:

• A standardized needs-assessment process that verifies and documents the precise business need for specific physician services;
• Imposing limitations on the involvement of royalty-earning physicians in clinical studies, and on the total annual payments that can be made to individual physicians for providing services to the company.
• A services agreement, standardized across businesses, that documents in advance services to be provided by physicians and the fair market value payment to be made for the services;
• Systems linking each of these steps with documentation that the services have been satisfactorily completed and invoiced prior to payment.

Further detail on these policies and practices can be found at www.medtronic.com/collaboration.

“The measures we are putting in place are fundamental to Medtronic’s future growth and our ability to help even more patients with new, life-changing therapies,” added Hawkins. “We believe that taking these steps will enhance patient and public confidence and ensure that the importance of physician-industry collaboration is understood as vital to providing long-term healthcare solutions.”

About Medtronic
Medtronic, Inc. (www.medtronic.com), headquartered in Minneapolis, is the global leader in medical technology – alleviating pain, restoring health, and extending life for millions of people around the world.