It’s a meeting of giants as medtech titan Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) joins forces with insurance goliath Aetna (NYSE: AET) to target patients with Type II diabetes and offer them insulin pump assistance programs.
Aetna will use claims data to identify patients who may benefit from insulin pump therapy and Medtronic will reach out to their physicians to offer the Getting2Goal program, which aims to "help simplify insulin pump therapy," the companies said.
Enrolled patients will also get access to Medtronic’s StartRight plan, described as a personalized on-boarding program "to help increase success, confidence and engagement in transitioning to insulin pump therapy." Only patients who opt for a Medtronic insulin pump will have access to the Getting2GoalSM and Getting2GoalSM courses.
"By working with Aetna, we look forward to supporting health care providers and patients so that they can enjoy the quality of life that can come from fewer hospital visits, better glucose control and a simplified diabetes management routine," Medtronic chief medical officer and global clinical affairs vice president Dr. Francine Kaufman said in prepared remarks.
The initiative plays into Medtronic’s larger efforts to incorporate more chronic disease management programs and hospital solutions into its playbook. During last month’s HIMSS14 conference in Florida Medtronic announced another Aetna collaboration targeting patients with congestive heart failure, MedCity News reported. Under that initiative, Aetna plans to monitor data from patients’ pacemakers to watch for signs of extra water retention that may be a sign of progressing heart failure. The duo is further working on developing a program to predict glucose highs and lows in diabetics by monitoring their glucose readers, according to MobiHealthNews.
Medtronic’s recently acquired Cardiocom division marked a milestone in its transformation to a medtech and hospitals solutions provider. Cardiocom, which Medtronic acquired last summer for $200 million, makes devices aimed at helping to manage chronic conditions like diabetes or heart disease.
Medtronic is also bent on proving the viability of the value-based model by inking deals with hospitals, CEO Omar Ishrak told MassDevice.com earlier this year. Medtronic offers financing for new cath labs or hybrid operating rooms and manages their operation and workflow, asking in return for a 7-year commitment to a fixed per-patient fee that includes the cost of any Medtronic devices used in the procedure. The 1st 5 of these contracts, signed since last September, are slated to bring in about $300 million over 7 years, the CEO told us. That works out to about $50 million on an annualized basis, he said.
MDT shares were up 0.5% today, trading at $73.99 as of about 12:30 p.m.
