Physician collaboration

Training

Educating other healthcare professionals (HCPs) to use or implement our medical devices and therapies

The CoreValve™ system is a new way to treat severe aortic stenosis for patients for whom surgery is not recommended. Medtronic education and training programs help HCPs to safely adopt this therapy. Part of the program involves training by HCP proctors who have direct patient access and are highly trained and experienced in the new therapy. The HCP proctors visit sites where other heart HCPs are getting started with the therapy to help ensure that procedural best practices for the CoreValve™ system are being followed.

Clinical research

Participating in research to help ensure that the products we bring to market are safe and effective

Medtronic is currently collaborating with leading researchers worldwide to use an investigational deep brain stimulation (DBS) system, called Activa®PC+S, for HCP-sponsored clinical studies. These studies may one day transform the way people with various devastating neurological and psychological disorders are treated. The investigational system from Medtronic is the first to enable the sensing and recording of brain signals while simultaneously providing targeted DBS therapy. Collaboration is critical in this research, as initial findings by HCPs may lead to clinical trials that could result in personalized DBS therapy where device data is used to automatically adjust therapy to the needs of individual patients. 

DBS therapy, which Medtronic helped pioneer, delivers mild electrical pulses to precisely targeted areas of the brain to control symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and other conditions via a surgically implanted medical system, similar to a pacemaker.

Consulting

Collaborating on educational campaigns or materials for patients

HCP advisors work closely with Medtronic on the development of education materials for patients with diabetes. An HCP’s perspective during the development process ensures the patient education materials are aligned to how the HCP prescribes and manages new technologies with their patients. This alignment is important because managing diabetes requires hands-on involvement from the patient who wears and interacts with an insulin pump and glucose sensor.

Inventing

• We are proud of our work with HCPs and have policies to ensure our interactions with HCPs are principled and appropriate.
• We understand the importance of public trust in collaboration and are committed to transparency in an effort to increase patient confidence and project our ability to work with HCPs.
• We are hopeful that the CMS Open Payments database will be a move to consistent reporting of HCP collaboration across our industry, protecting our ability to continue to pursue this important interaction for the benefit of patients.