The “Sunshine Act,” introduced in Congress earlier this year, states that medical device manufacturers must publicly disclose particular monetary transactions involving physicians who assisted with product training, development, and research.

The purpose of the bill is to help prevent inappropriate relationships that may form between physicians and medical device makers.

Medtronic, Inc., a manufacturer of medical devices such as defibrillators and insulin pumps, disputes the bill for not including all companies that make devices. In its current form, the bill does not include companies with annual revenues of less than $100 million. The bill also does not include physician-owned companies. Medtronic alleges that 75 percent of medical device manufacturers fall into one of those two categories and should be included in the bill.

Source: Toni Clarke, “Medtronic says ‘Sunshine Act’ should go further.” Reuters.com, http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssHealthcareNews/idUSN2634844420080226 February 27, 2008.