How quickly new innovative medical devices get to market will be determined in part by changes in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 510(k) program. Outgoing Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) Chief Executive Bill Hawkins said this week that updates to 510(k) “will be neutral to slightly negative.”

Hawkins won’t be required to report to work, but instead make himself available to advise on everything from litigation and community affairs to talent retention and industry leadership, according to the separation letter, dated Dec. 28. He will receive on top of his current annual salary of $1.25 million an expected $3.8 million in separation pay.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) announced this week that CEO Bill Hawkins will retire in April 2011 after just three-plus years on the job. While his tenure was relatively short, Hawkins left an indelible mark on the world’s largest maker of new innovative medical devices. Here’s a look back on the Hawkins era at Medtronic.

It’s been that kind of day at Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT). In the morning, the company in Fridley, Minnesota, announced current CEO Bill Hawkins would retire next year. In the afternoon, Medtronic announced one of its former CEOs, Winston Wallin, had died at the age of 84.

When Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) CEO Art Collins retired in 2007, there were at least two top candidates vying to replace him. One was Michael DeMane, the brash president of Medtronic’s spine business whose aggressive pursuit of growth invited legal and regulatory scrutiny. The other was chief operating officer Bill Hawkins, a steady, stabilizing presence within Medtronic’s senior leadership team.

Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) said Monday that Chairman/CEO Bill Hawkins will retire next year. The medical device giant based in Fridley, Minnesota, said Hawkins, 56, will leave the company April 2011. Medtronic will launch an external search for his replacement.

Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) is a company in transition as it seeks higher growth in China and new therapies like transcatheter heart valves while trying to “protect and optimize” its core cardiac rhythm disease management (CRDM) business. On Tuesday, the Fridley, Minnesota, medical device maker said its profits sank 34 percent in the fiscal second quarter from a year ago. So it lowered its fiscal 2011 profit and sales forecasts.

On Wall Street, you’re only as good as your next acquisition. Try telling that to Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT). Over the past two years, the Fridley, Minnesota, medical device maker purchased nine companies: $700 million for CoreValve Inc., $370 million for ATS Medical Inc., $123 million for Osteotech Inc. — all small, “tuck-in” deals. The time is ripe for a big acquisition.

In a recent interview, Hawkins said Medtronic will continue to go from a a stent and pump company to one that treats heart failure, diabetes and degenerative disc disease. “The real shift is thinking about ourselves in a bigger way, much more than just a device company,” he said.

First the good news: the state’s exports in manufactured goods during the second quarter jumped 19 percent to $4.3 billion compared to the same period a year ago. Now the bad: optic and medical products fell 10 percent to $723 million — the only major product group in Minnesota to register a decline. Worse yet, sales of optic and medical products for the entire country rose 15 percent.