Patients with a Medtronic (Dublin, Ireland) pacemaker can now confirm functionality using their using their own smartphone or tablet.

The MyCareLink Smart Monitor is comprised of a handheld pacemaker device reader and the MyCareLink Smart Monitor application, available for free on both Android and Apple platforms. The patient first places the reader over the location of the implanted pacemaker. Data is then extracted from the device—including from a cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemaker (CRT-P)—via Bluetooth. The reader sends this information to the Smart Monitor app, which relays it via cellular or Wi-Fi services to the Medtronic CareLink Network, where it is uploaded to their medical record.

In addition to sending pacing information from their pacemakers to their physicians or clinics, patients using the MyCareLink Smart Monitor can also confirm the date of their most recent transmission of pacemaker information; create a personalized profile on the MyCareLink Connect Website; and receive email, text messages, or app notifications to confirm their data transmissions. The app can only be used with a MyCareLink Smart Reader, which is prescribed by the patient’s doctor.

“The use of smart technology continues to grow among people of all ages, and especially among people over 65, which is the age range of the majority of our pacemaker patients. Patients that are engaged with their disease, and engaged more fully, they have better outcomes,” said Darrell Johnson, general manager of the connected care business at Medtronic. “This is really a combination of giving patients the data to help them live on a daily basis with their cardiovascular disease as well as connect them to a healthcare system to prevent costly ER visits and hospital admissions.”

“Remote monitoring of pacemakers and other cardiac devices is now the standard of care, as studies have established how it benefits patients—including faster diagnoses and increased survival—as well as how it helps physicians manage their pacemaker patients through increased efficiency and convenience,” said electrophysiologist George Crossley III, MD, of the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institution (Nashville, TN, USA). “Because the MyCareLink Smart Monitor is integrated into existing mobile platforms like smartphones and tablets, it is easy for patients to transmit data from their pacemakers to their doctors via the technology that they are using every day.”

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