Pacemaker manufacturer St. Jude Medical Inc. and two hospitals have agreed to pay nearly $4 million to resolve fraud allegations, the Justice Department announced Friday. The Justice Department had accused St. Jude of paying kickbacks to hospitals in Ohio and Kentucky to secure heart-device business. St. Jude is to pay $3.7 million and the hospitals to pay a combined $173,000 to resolve the allegations.

A new pacemaker that makes it safe for heart disease patients to have a vital diagnostic test they previously could not has been implanted in the first Tasmanian. Previously Tasmanians with pacemakers in their hearts could not undergo Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans used to detect cancer, strokes and other disease. Hobart cardiologist Leigh Bowman says the new MRI-friendly pacemaker will make a big difference as at least half of pacemaker patients will need an MRI in their lifetime.

St. Jude Medical Inc has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a pair of wireless-ready pacemakers called the Accent RF pacemaker and Anthem RF CRT-P (for cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemakers). These pacemakers can wirelessly communicate with a programmer used by the clinician or a home monitor.

                                   Boston Scientific Corp. was given European CE Marking for its new ALTRUA family of pacemakers. ALTRUA pacemakers are used to treat bradycardia, a condition in which the heart beats too slowly. ALTRUA is flexible and features a sensor to regulate the heart after experiencing physical activity or emotional stress and an automatic capture capability designed for automatic and accurate ventricular pulse management.

Boston Scientific Corp. has announced the commencement of the use of its Cognis cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) and Teligen implantable cardioverter defibrillator (TM-ICD) by European doctors. Both these cardiac rhythm management devices received the CE Mark approval in January and are awaiting approval in the US. These are among the smallest and thinnest high-energy devices in the world and offer improved battery life and self-rectifying software.