Medtronic Begins Remote Monitoring of Heart Failure Patients

Medtronic has begun a U.S. pilot evaluation with Carematix to assess the efficacy and convenience of remotely monitoring physiological heart data, weight and blood pressure in the management of heart failure.

Patients with heart failure (NYHA Class II, III or IV) and a Medtronic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or cardiac resynchronization therapy ICD (CRT-D) device will participate in the evaluation, called REACH HF (Remote Evaluation using Augmented CareLink Network transmissions for the management of Heart Failure).

Patients will regularly transmit physiological information from home to clinicians using both the Medtronic CareLink Network and the Carematix Wellness System. With CareLink, patients transmit heart rhythm activity data from their device to a secure server using a portable monitor that is connected to a standard phone line. Using Carematix, patients transmit weight and blood pressure information from wireless biometric devices to a base station and then to a secure server. Physicians and nurses will review the data on confidential internet websites as they care for participating patients and report on the clinical utility of the combined data for the management of heart failure.