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Non-Tech : Binary Hodgepodge -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ~digs who wrote (583)	5/14/2003 12:05:30 PM
From: ~digs	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6763

Medtronic's Internet Monitor Goes to Vets Wednesday May 14, 9:51 AM EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Medtronic Inc. (MDT), a maker of pacemakers and other implantable medical devices, on Wednesday said it agreed to equip the medical centers of the Department of Veterans Affairs with an Internet-based service that connects cardiac device patients with physicians. The service, called Medtronic CareLink Network, allows patients to interact with doctors on a "virtual" basis, saving time and money for veterans, some of whom have to travel hundreds of miles to have their cardiac devices checked, the company said. Medtronic said about 1,500 veterans nationwide could benefit from the service, which would generate about $300,000 in revenue to Medtronic annually. The Minneapolis-based company began aggressively marketing the service, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January 2002, in the fall of that year. A Medtronic spokeswoman, Valerie Lind, said the veterans are among 100,000 patients who have company's cardiac devices that can work with the monitoring system. Patients can use a CareLink monitor to collect data about their heart and cardiac device activity from home anywhere in the 50 states by holding a small antenna over their implanted device. The monitor downloads the data and sends it through a telephone connection to the CareLink Network, which doctors can access by computer. Lind said the typical veteran must go to the hospital every three months to make sure their defibrillators are working properly and to check for recent changes in their heart rhythm. finance.myway.com