Medtronic, Christiana agree to outcomes-based collaboration

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Medical technology company  Medtronic and  ChristianaCare  announced a collaboration designed to improve outcomes for ChristianaCare patients in Delaware, the surrounding region and perhaps the nation.

The five-year agreement will focus on developing and deploying value-based healthcare initiatives to help ChristianaCare apply  medical technologies and therapies to patients who may benefit most, with shared financial accountability between ChristianaCare and Medtronic to improve patient outcomes while reducing the cost of care, a release stated.

ChristianaCare has been moving toward an outcomes-based model fee-based care comes under increasing scrutiny from all quarters.

“There’s general consensus that a fee-for-service system is not sustainable, and a value-based system is the way to go, but ‘how’ becomes a question. We want to take that on, but transformation can only happen through collaboration with others with aligned views and aligned reward mechanisms,” said Omar Ishrak, CEO  of Medtronic. “ChristianaCare’s shared commitment to developing value-based healthcare initiatives makes them an ideal partner for Medtronic.”

“We are committed to delivering health — not just healthcare — to the people we serve,” said Janice E. Nevin, M.D., CEO of ChristianaCare. “Value-based care is the key to achieving optimal health and an exceptional experience for the people we serve while ensuring that care is accessible and affordable.”

One of the first initiatives is expected to address opioid-induced ventilatory impairment (OIVI), which occurs when opioids used for pain management inhibit the central drive to breathe and may cause the patient to stop breathing completely unless  intervention takes place  with life-saving measures.

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Medtronic and ChristianaCare seek to standardize an enhanced respiratory monitoring initiative to help address the condition.  This initiative will be designed to identify patients receiving opioids for pain management who are at high risk for OIVI and apply continuous monitoring technology to track breathing, and help alert the care team to abnormal trends.

Other initiatives are expected to address heart failure and diabetes, which together affect more than 35 million people in the United States and cost the nation an estimated $357 billion each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Together with Medtronic, we are aligning expertise and incentives to exponentially increase our ability to achieve optimal health — not just better care delivery,” said Randall Gaboriault, M.S., chief digital and information officer and senior vice president, innovation and strategic development at ChristianaCare. “This collaboration will implement a new value chain, based on vested purpose, co-innovation, digital and data.”

Delaware’s demographics and ChristianaCare’s diverse patient population across a broad spectrum of healthcare settings create an ideal test ground for the organizations to develop and scale new value-based initiatives that could benefit the health of patient populations across the country, the release noted. 

“We recognize that creating healthier communities requires integrated care models, passion to improve the status quo, and an aligned purpose of helping patients live healthier and fuller lives,” said John Liddicoat, M.D., executive vice president and president of the Americas Region at Medtronic. “This collaboration with ChristianaCare reinforces our joint commitment to healthcare innovation through value-based arrangements.”

Medtronic has its headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and operational headquarters in Minneapolis. ChristianaCare is the largest health care system in Delaware, operating primarily in northern Delaware.

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