Medtronic to surf Europes ‘wave of telemedicine’

The US-medical device manufacturer Medtronic is planning to extend its presence as a telemedicine provider in Europe.

CareLink was introduced in Europe in 2007, but so far in pilot projects only. This will change in 2008, according to Medtronic’s CEO Bill Hawkins.

He said 2008 will be the year for Medtronic to get into Europe with its telemedicine solutions on a bigger scale. At the heart of the company’s telemedicine initiative is the CareLink platform, an internet-based solution for remote medical device monitoring and remote patient monitoring. CareLink has been available in the US since 2004. The platform is currently used for the remote monitoring of patients with implantable defibrillators (ICD) or pacemakers, and for web-based continuous blood glucose-monitoring.

The new product line-up includes new generation ICD – and pacemaker systems that are capable of wireless data transfer without the need of an antenna to collect the data. The devices will also have an automatic alert function for pulmonary oedema, which Medtronic refers to as ‘OptiVol’. It measures electrical currents in the thorax and generates an e-mail or short message-alert for the physician in case a pulmonary oedema is developing in the patient.

Computer Sciences Corp forms healthcare unit

Computer Sciences Corp. has launched a new business unit dedicated to healthcare. CSC’s Healthcare Sector will focus on the information and service needs of healthcare providers, health plans, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and allied industries globally.  Deward Watts, who has been with CSC for 12 years, will serve as president of the new unit.

“Organizing CSC’s global healthcare resources into a single vertical organization better positions CSC to help our clients use information to transform healthcare,” said Watts. “Our main focus will be delivering IT-based innovation that improves patient outcomes and the decision making of providers, payers and life sciences organisations. ”

The Healthcare Sector will leverage core intellectual property to help clients innovate new or enhanced clinical and business processes, including processes related to supply chain management, revenue cycle management, claims processing, document management and clinical trial management, CSC officials said. In addition, application management services and business process outsourcing are supported by CSC’s healthcare centres in Bangalore and Chennai, India.

The company said the new unit will be bolstered by CSC’s acquisition last year of First Consulting Group, a healthcare IT consulting company, and also by the acquisition of Covansys, which adds offshore domain expertise and an additional market channel. 

GE Healthcare in joint venture 
 
GE Healthcare, the US$ 17 billion (Dh62.3bn) healthcare business of General Electric Company (GE), has announced the formation of a joint venture, GE El Seif Healthcare Arabia.

The new company, which has a 51:49% ownership between GE and El Seif Development, will drive the sale of GE Healthcare’s products in Saudi Arabia. GE Healthcare has been operating in Saudi Arabia for more than 25 years and together with strategic partner El Seif Development Company it has been making the latest innovations available to healthcare providers in the country.

GE El Seif Healthcare Arabia will bring GE Healthcare’s extensive portfolio ranging from innovative diagnostic and imaging equipment, pat

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