A wireless medical device (12) includes at least one sensor (14, 18, 22) which monitors physiological data of a patient or an actuator (26) which delivers therapy to the patient. A wireless transceiver (40) transmits and receives information packets related to at least one of the monitored physiological data and the delivered therapy. The wireless transceiver (40) has a duty-cycle limit. The duty-cycle module (50) determines the duty-cycle parameters for the wireless transceiver (40) according to the duty-cycle limit. A communication module (60) controls the transceiver (40) to broadcast at least one duty-cycle parameter when transmitting an information packet or when acknowledging receiving an information packet from a neighboring wireless medical device.