[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 77 (Tuesday, May 19, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5609-S5610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       LETTER TO MEDTRONIC, INC.

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that my letter 
dated May 18, 2009, to Medtronic, Inc. be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                      U.S. Senate,


                                         Committee on Finance,

                                     Washington, DC, May 18, 2009.
     Bill Hawkins,
     President and Chief Executive Officer, Medtronic, Inc., 
         Medtronic Parkway, Minneapolis, MN.
       Dear Mr. Hawkins: The United States Senate Committee on 
     Finance (Committee) has jurisdiction over the Medicare and 
     Medicaid programs. As a senior member of the United States 
     Senate and as Ranking Member of the Committee, I have a 
     special responsibility to protect the health of Medicare and 
     Medicaid beneficiaries and safeguard taxpayer dollars 
     authorized by Congress for these programs. This includes the 
     responsibility to conduct oversight of the health care 
     industry, including makers of medical devices, which receive 
     hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars every year for the 
     care of Americans.
       In carrying out this duty, I have been examining the 
     substantial financial ties between the device industry and 
     practicing physicians. I have also been examining the safety 
     and cost of medical devices that are sold to the American 
     public. As the largest medical device company in the United 
     States, the practices of Medtronic, Inc. (Medtronic) have a 
     profound impact on American healthcare.
       Last October, I sent you a letter asking Medtronic to 
     disclose payments to ``all physicians with whom Medtronic has 
     consulting agreements for Infuse.'' This request was spurred 
     by an article in the Wall Street

[[Page S5610]]

     Journal (WSJ), which reported on allegations of financial 
     incentives provided to doctors that included ``entertainment 
     at a Memphis strip club, trips to Alaska and patent royalties 
     on inventions they played no part in.''
       With the exception of one individual who is now deceased, 
     listed below is the financial information documenting all 
     consultants who received compensation, which Medtronic 
     provided to me [Attached].
       I am concerned that Medtronic did not include Dr. Timothy 
     Kuklo in response to my written request. It is clear that Dr. 
     Kuklo had some sort of consulting agreement with Medtronic 
     and was named as a Medtronic consultant for Infuse in an 
     article that ran in the New York Times on May 13, 2009. There 
     is of course the possibility that Dr. Kuklo had a more 
     general type of consulting agreement with Medtronic that may 
     have included Infuse, as well as other Medtronic products. In 
     the future, I hope that instead of not providing me with the 
     name of the physician involved in Infuse, or any other matter 
     that I am looking into, that Medtronic contact me to avoid 
     the situation in which we find ourselves.
       In light of the issues set forth above, I would greatly 
     appreciate Medtronic explaining why Dr. Timothy Kuklo was not 
     listed in the information provided me earlier.
       Thank you in advance for your continued cooperation in this 
     matter and commitment to transparency. I look forward to 
     hearing from you by no later than June 1, 2009. All documents 
     responsive to this request should be sent electronically in 
     PDF format to Brian_D[email protected]. If you 
     have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Paul 
     Thacker.
           Sincerely,
                                              Charles E. Grassley,
                                                   Ranking Member.
       Attachment.

 MEDTRONIC INC. REPORTING: PHYSICIANS WITH WHOM MEDTRONIC HAS CONSULTING
                          AGREEMENTS FOR INFUSE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      Name                         Year    Total amount
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lisa Cannada...................................     2005          $2,000
                                                    2006          20,700
                                                    2007          14,000
                                                    2008           7,700
Michael Carstens...............................     2006          46,800
                                                    2007          21,600
                                                    2008          31,200
David Cochran..................................     2006          35,200
                                                    2007          18,000
                                                    2008          14,000
Curtis Dickman.................................     2003          12,900
                                                    2004             100
Rajeev Garapati................................     2007           8,600
Judith Gogola..................................     2006             500
David Hak......................................     2008          10,500
James Hardacker................................     2006           2,100
                                                    2007           9,200
                                                    2008           7,100
B. Matthew Hicks...............................     2004           6,600
                                                    2005          24,000
                                                    2006          23,000
                                                    2007           5,100
                                                    2008          11,600
Thomas Lyons...................................     2006          41,300
                                                    2007          43,200
                                                    2008          12,200
Jay Malmquist..................................     2007          23,100
                                                    2008          24,100
Robert Marx....................................     2006          57,500
                                                    2007          24,100
                                                    2008          28,200
Todd Melegari..................................     2006           2,300
Peter Moy......................................     2008          59,900
Myron Nevins...................................     2007          35,600
John O'Donnell.................................     2006           4,400
Chetan Patel...................................     2006           1,100
                                                    2007           4,200
                                                    2008          15,800
Philip Pryor...................................     2006           2,100
                                                    2007           2,600
                                                    2008           6,600
Kevin Pugh.....................................     2005           1,300
                                                    2006          13,000
                                                    2007          16,100
Daniel Spagnoli................................     2006          28,100
                                                    2007          67,600
                                                    2008          42,700
Gilbert Triplett...............................     2005           6,400
                                                    2007          29,000
                                                    2008          16,000
John-Louis Ugbo................................     2005           2,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                          

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