Medtronic CareLink Network Reaches Significant Patient Milestones

First Internet-Based System to Better Manage Chronic Cardiovascular Disease Patients with Implanted Medical Devices Enrolls 50,000 Patients in Just Three Years

Network Stands as the Largest Patient Management System

Minneapolis - Medtronic, Inc., a provider of implantable cardiac devices and remote cardiac monitoring technologies, announced it has enrolled 50,000 patients in the Medtronic CareLink Network. In addition to reaching this significant patient milestone, the Medtronic CareLink Network has registered more than 120,000 data transmissions since the service's inception in 2002. Virtually all models of Medtronic implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) and combination cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT)-ICDs, along with several Medtronic pacemakers, can be used with the Medtronic CareLink Network.

The Medtronic CareLink Network was the first Internet-based system to help physicians and patients better manage chronic cardiovascular disease treated by implantable device therapy. The system is an important advance in the ongoing medical care of heart rhythm problems, allowing patients to receive expert medical advice from their physician while at home or traveling, potentially saving multiple trips per year to the physician's office.

The Medtronic CareLink Network enables patients to transmit data from their implantable device, as instructed by their physician, from anywhere in the 50 states using a portable monitor that is connected to a standard telephone line. Within minutes, the patient's physician and nurses can view the data on a secure Internet Web site. The information, which is comparable to the information provided during an in-clinic device follow-up visit, provides the physician with a view of how the device and patient's heart are operating.

The system provides an efficient, safe and convenient way for specialty physicians to remotely monitor the condition of their patients, and if needed, make adjustments to medication or prescribe additional therapy. Once patients on the Medtronic CareLink Network begin using the service, they typically transmit data from their implanted devices three times a year.

"As an organization, Medtronic has continually evolved from simply using device therapy to manage cardiac rhythms to a holistic focus on cardiac disease management - pairing therapies that treat heart rhythms with innovative diagnostics and monitoring to help physicians better manage their patients' overall cardiac disease," said Steve Mahle, president, Medtronic Cardiac Rhythm Management. "The Medtronic CareLink Network has allowed us to be on the cutting-edge of patient management, expanding how physicians and patients interact, and providing solutions for the care of cardiac patients around the globe."

Medtronic has taken measures to protect the confidentiality and security of patients' healthcare information to help customers comply with privacy laws such as the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. The system uses the same server technology and encryption software used for vital applications at most medical and financial institutions.

SOURCE: Medtronic, Inc.