MEDTRONIC PERSPECTIVE Aligning Value

FACILITATING THE MOVE TO A VALUE-BASED FEATURE

We support efforts to drastically restructure healthcare delivery systems and make payment for products and services contingent upon the ability to improve patient outcomes relative to the cost. This shift is what many leaders and stakeholders mean when they discuss “value-based healthcare.”

Today’s healthcare needs care pathways for patients and therapies that deliver clinical and economic value and drive efficient, integrated care. This emphasis on fee-for-value instead of fee-for-service can help better manage patient conditions, control costs, and continue to drive and reward innovations. At Medtronic, we believe the technologies we create and the solutions we offer can play an important role in helping care organizations align value, share accountability, and propel healthcare past the fragmented state that exists today.

Other value-based efforts are starting to gain traction around the world, including work by the International Consortium of Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) and work resulting from the passage of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).

IMPROVING CARE EFFICIENCY

While there is consensus on moving to value-based structures, governments, health insurers, employers, and hospital systems are still searching for methods that spur value. For this reason, Medtronic is stepping forward to put the full power of our technologies — and our people — to work with new partners, in new ways, to align value and usher in a new era in healthcare.

Medtronic Integrated Health Solutions, for example, recently partnered with the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the United Kingdom, a major teaching hospital recognized as a center of excellence in cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery. By renewing aging cath lab equipment with the most innovative medical technology available and by optimizing daily operations, we helped Imperial save an estimated £840,000 in the first year. Similar value creation can be seen at other hospitals we’ve partnered with in other parts of Europe, Canada, Latin America, and the United States.

Realizing the importance of improving patient results outside of the hospital setting, we recently entered an outcomes-based agreement with Aetna, a major health insurer in the United States, for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes patients who transition from daily insulin injections to Medtronic insulin pump therapy. The agreement ties a component of our reimbursement to successfully meeting clinical improvement thresholds. We constructed a similar partnership with UnitedHealthcare, and we are pursuing other agreements that guarantee the performance of our technologies will lead to better patient results.

ALL PATHS LEAD TO VALUE

At Medtronic, our products provide clinical value — but we’re also working to demonstrate economic value. One example is our commitment to value-based therapy optimization led efforts to reduce infections associated with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIED). To improve the safety of implanting these lifesaving devices, Medtronic now offers the TYRX absorbable antibacterial envelope — which has been shown to reduce the chances of infection among high-risk patients by 70-100 percent — to hospitals as part of an outcomes-based arrangement.⁵

Across multiple regions, we are developing bundled payment arrangements, discussing approaches for outcomes-based data sharing with providers, and working with payer organizations on value-based partnerships and new business models.

One model, Diabeter, a value-based program in the realm of chronic care, helps patients and providers manage diabetes. Diabeter uses high-tech and high-touch solutions to manage the care of 1,700 children and young adults living with Type 1 diabetes. Our Diabeter clinics use an integrated care approach that puts the patient first, and we’re applying learnings from this model to identify other global geographies with similar challenges to roll it out more broadly.

GREATER VALUE IN PARTNERSHIP

We believe Medtronic has a unique role to play in the move toward aligned, value-based care, but we know we can do even more by working with others. If your organization shares the belief that progress is possible by working together, we’d love to explore opportunities with you. Let’s take healthcare Further, Together.

Read the Medtronic Perspective on Aligning Value:
Medtronic Moves to Align Value Across the Healthcare Ecosystem (PDF)