The University of Minnesota has until the end of August to respond to conflict of interest policy inquiries from Congress since that deadline was extended on Monday. The University is replying to a letter President Bob Bruininks received July 24 from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, requesting information on the consulting relationship between medical product developer Medtronic and Dr. David Polly, a spinal surgeon at the University. The letter said Polly received about $1.2 million in consulting fees from Medtronic over five years, and did not fully disclose the relationship when advocating funding research in soldiersâÄô injuries to a senate committee in May 2006 . The University asked the Senate Finance Committee to extend the Aug. 7 deadline because they needed to discuss clarifications and narrowing requests with GrassleyâÄôs staff, University General Counsel Mark Rotenberg said. Rotenberg called some of the requests âÄúoverbroad,âÄù citing a request for National Institutes of Health grant data, which he said is not needed because Polly received Department of Defense grants . The UniversityâÄôs medical school is not the only school scrutinized by GrassleyâÄôs Physician Payments Sunshine Act , which has made conflict of interest inquiries into 23 medical schools across the U.S. since June. However, there is âÄúhuge variationâÄù between U.S. universities regarding what needs to be disclosed and what people are allowed to do, said Eric Campbell, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a University of Minnesota alumnus. GrassleyâÄôs letter said it did not appear that University physicians were required to disclose the specific amount of income they received for professional activities, or that there was a way to verify what the faculty reported. The Academic Health Center Conflict Review and Management Committee reviewed PollyâÄôs relationship with Medtronic in December 2006. A memo from the committee to Associate Dean at the Medical School Charles Moldow outlined four steps in a âÄúConflict Management PlanâÄù including, âÄúDr. Polly will disclose his consulting relationships with Medtronic when submitting articles for publication or making public presentations about this research.âÄù The memo also said Polly was âÄúreceiving in excess of $10,000 for his services annually.âÄù The UniversityâÄôs policy that âÄúfaculty donâÄôt have to disclose how much they earn, they just have to check a box that they earn over $10,000,âÄù was the âÄúdownfallâÄù in the Minnesota case, Campbell said. The UniversityâÄôs Medical School has been in the spotlight for conflict of interest issues in the past. The school received a âÄúDâÄù for its policies from the American Medical Student Association in 2007 . A task force was created to address conflict of interest issues, but Gary Schwitzer , task force member and associate professor in journalism, said he has seen many of the groups recommendations âÄúfall by the wayside.âÄù Campbell said GrassleyâÄôs letter provided the University with âÄúa great opportunity to show national leadership.âÄù The University is working on a conflict of interest project independently of GrassleyâÄôs inquiries, said Rotenberg. He said the initial pace for the project would have seen results in âÄúlate fall, early winter.âÄù The pace has sped up, and conflict of interest principles may be revised much sooner, but will not be in place before the school year starts. âÄúIf being in the headlines of almost every major news organization in this country and being on a leading senatorâÄôs hit-list isnâÄôt enough to spur you to action, I donâÄôt know what would be,âÄù Schwitzer said. Meanwhile, Medtronic is conducting an internal investigation, but has continued its relationship with Polly. Medtronic determines consultant pay based on annual national surveys of physiciansâÄô income by specialty complied by a third party, company spokesperson Marybeth Thorsgaard said in an e-mailed statement.