By Joe Carlson
National data show state firms’ payments to doctors and hospitals.
A review of payments of $1 million or more shows that eight doctors across the country collected a combined $81 million from Medtronic PLC and St. Jude Medical. All told, Minnesota companies paid out more than $211 million to doctors and hospitals in payments not related to research last year, according to the federal Open Payments database for 2014 that was published Tuesday.
The single largest payment by a Minnesota health care company last year went to Georgia cardiologist Sanjay S. Yadav, who was founder and CEO of a company acquired by Little Canada-based St. Jude. Yadav was paid $15.4 million as part of the acquisition of the company, CardioMEMS.
Tuesday marked the second annual release of data from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, detailing payments from industry to the doctors and hospitals. It was the first time a full year of data were included, and unlike last year, the agency published 99 percent of the payment information submitted to it. More than a third of the prior data had redactions.
The Open Payments program, which was mandated by the Sunshine Act provisions of the Affordable Care Act, was created because of concerns about whether large companies like Medtronic have in the past improperly used secret payments to influence the practice of medicine. Medtronic, based in Ireland with operational headquarters in Fridley, has denied applying undue influence on doctors or clinical research.
“We are proud of our work with physicians and have policies to ensure our interactions with physicians are principled and appropriate,” spokeswoman Cindy Resman said in an e-mail. “Appropriate collaboration … gives us insights to understand patient needs, advance technologies, and train other physicians how to safely use the products and therapies we develop.”
In June, the University of Minnesota banned many of the types of payments reported Tuesday, following criticisms that financial incentives create conflicts of interest in research programs for drugs and medical devices.
