From Attorneyatlaw.com:

Medtronic Inc., Medical Device Maker Once Accused of Paying Illegal Kickbacks, Agrees to Show How Much it Pays Physicians

Medtronic Inc., a leading maker of heart defibrillators and other medical devices, says it will start keeping track of how much money and other perks it gives to physicians for consulting and other work then make the numbers public.

The company is the largest medical-device maker and the latest in a string of medical-industry giants to announce so-called “transparency” measures, billed as efforts to throw open the doors to corporate boardrooms and show the public which doctors are on drug company payrolls and for how much.

The Minneapolis-based manufacturer said it will begin tracking all payments to doctors in excess of $5,000 in January 2010 and expects to release its first public report on the funding in March 2010.

Such moves should be applauded, but also closely monitored to ensure their accuracy and completeness. Only when drug consumers and physicians have all the facts, or at least more facts, can they make more informed, unbiased decisions about which drugs and medical devices are best. (Emphasis added.)

http://www.attorneyatlaw.com/2009/02...ys-physicians/

A cynic would suggest that meant that Medtronic would just have to make it's payments for the Fourth Quarter of 2009 all the sweeter.

Mike