Medtronic CareLink Network

Medtronic CareAlert Notifications

Customizable Alerts

The CareLink^® Website offers customizable, color-coded alert notifications for devices with Conexus ® Wireless Telemetry. The Medtronic CareAlert^® Notification levels can be designated as Red, Yellow, or Website-Only. The urgency levels can be set clinic-wide or customized for individual patients, when you determine it’s necessary.

Medtronic CareAlert Notifications

You will be notified of wireless alerts via your choice of:

Wireless Alert Notification Methods

CareAlert Notification Descriptions

For alert notifications to be sent to the CareLink Website, “Home Monitor” alerts must be programmed to "On" in the device using the CareLink Programmer.

Clinical Management Alerts

• AT/AF Daily Burden > Threshold
• Fast Ventricular Rate during AT/AF
• Number of Shocks Delivered in an Episode
• All Therapies in a Zone Exhausted

Lead/Device Integrity Alerts

• VF Detection/Therapy Off
• Low Battery Voltage – Recommended Replacement Time
• Excessive Charge Time – End of Service
• RV Lead Integrity
• Atrial Pacing Impedance Out of Range
• Right Ventricular Pacing Impedance Out of Range
• Left Ventricular Pacing Impedance Out of Range
• Ventricular Defibrillation Impedance Out of Range
• SVC (HVX) Defibrillation Impedance Out of Range

Nonprogrammable Alerts

• Electrical Reset*
• Pacing Mode DOO, VOO, or AOO*
• Active Can^® Off without SVC*
• Charge Circuit Timeout*

Note: Alerts identified with an asterisk (*) are nonprogrammable alerts. A patient audible tone will always sound when a nonprogrammable device alert occurs.

CareLink Network for Pacemakers

The CareLink^TM Network for pacemakers gives you the same in-depth device information as an office visit:

• Full Parameter Summary
• Battery Voltage and Longevity
• Lead Impedance and Trends
• Automatic Capture Thresholds
• Episodes
• Percent Pacing
• Histograms
• Real-Time and Magnet EGMs
• Stored EGMs
• Arrhythmia Summary with Mode Switch Duration

Comprehensive

• Unlike transtelephonic monitoring (TTM), CareLink transmissions provide the same device information as an in-office visit.¹
• CareLink transmissions enable clinicians to detect episodes and quickly triage special medical situations.
• A study found 22% of CareLink transmissions revealed clinically relevant information not apparent on electrograms (TTM).²

Convenient

• Compared with TTM, CareLink follow-ups are convenient for the clinic. Transmissions can be sent any time of the day. No nurse or tech is needed on the phone line during the transmission.
• Patients don’t have to struggle with placing wristbands and a magnet. Plus, they don’t have to deal with hooking up a contemporary phone receiver to an outdated TTM device.
• Medtronic owns and manages CareLink Monitor inventory and sends monitors directly to patients at no charge.

Connected

• Clinicians connect to the CareLink Network for data – anytime, anywhere – with Internet access.
• CareLink patients express greater satisfaction with their care team.³

Earl Bakken, Medtronic founder, enjoys the convenience of the CareLink Network (1:21, 6.6 MB) to transmit data from his pacemaker to physicians in Minneapolis.

CareLink Network for ICDs and CRT-D Devices

Medtronic offers Conexus^TM Wireless Telemetry for its newest ICDs and CRT-D devices. Convenient wireless interrogation takes place automatically while the patient sleeps, alleviating patient compliance issues and saving the patient valuable time and effort. Using the CareLink^® Website, your clinic staff can pre-schedule automatic device checks for each patient, minimizing time spent rescheduling missed appointments and playing phone tag. The CareLink Network with Conexus Wireless Telemetry offers customizable, color-coded alert notifications to enable quick identification of patients who require action.

Optimize, customize and simplify ICD and CRT-D patient care on the CareLink website.

Optimize

Whether your ICD/CRT-D patients have wireless or non-wireless devices, you can enjoy valuable time savings with the CareLink Network. The dashboard homepage on the CareLink Website triages clinical events so you can see what’s important first to optimize patient care. For example, instead of seeing an endless list of patients, CareLink users can view a list of patients with events or patients with missed transmissions.

Remote monitoring with the CareLink Network provides 65% time savings(opens new window) (PDF, 190 KB) over in-office checks.¹ CareLink transmissions can be automatically downloaded to a patient’s Paceart^TM System record(opens new window) (PDF, 268 KB). And when patients call the clinic feeling symptomatic, you can choose to have them send you a CareLink transmission so you can efficiently triage their care. According to a report in PACE(opens new window) (PDF, 341 KB), CareLink follow-up ensures timely identification of clinically important issues and can help avert emergency department visits.²

For patients using Conexus^TM Wireless Telemetry, there is the additional benefit of automatic device checks, allowing for minimal patient involvement. Transmissions occur silently and invisibly as your patient sleeps, alleviating patient compliance issues. The CareLink Network with Conexus telemetry also offers efficient website scheduling, which helps minimize time spent rescheduling missed appointments and playing telephone tag.

CareLink Express Service = High-Quality, Efficient Care

Fast: Access to experts and device diagnostic data in minutes – accelerating clinical decision-making¹

More complete: Improve documentation and communication

Cost-effective: Expedite care in expensive care settings¹

To learn more about the CareLink Express Service and how you can provide more efficient care to your Medtronic cardiac device patients, please contact your local Medtronic representative.

* If the patient is not enrolled in the CareLink Network at a device-following clinic, the transmission will be accessible on the CareLink Express website (for those facilities utilizing the CareLink Express Service) for seven days, and after that the data will no longer be available.