Cardiologist and Medtronic leader warn: Long-term funding uncertainty threatens the most vulnerable patients with heart disease

MedTech & Diagnostics News: In a recent interview with Health Industry Hub, Dr Michael McGee, Consultant Cardiologist from regional NSW, and Hon Yuen, Senior Business Director of Cardiac Rhythm Management at Medtronic, engaged in a discussion on critical aspects of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) and the vital provision of cardiac technical services.

Dr McGee led the conversation by shedding light on the clinical relevance and necessity for cardiac technical services, particularly for patients relying on CIEDs to manage a spectrum of cardiovascular conditions. The interview touched on the unique challenges faced by this patient population and explored the disparities in access to care between metropolitan areas in comparison to remote and rural regions.

“These devices are incredibly complex and technical. While you can train someone generically to manage them all on a basic level, you’re going to lose a lot of nuance and benefits. As we have certainly seen in the heart failure space, that lack of optimisation of these devices does increase mortality. So if the government is going to pay for these devices, it certainly makes sense to optimise them to make sure that we’ve not wasting that investment and patients are getting everything they can from it,” explained Dr McGee.

Mr Yuen shared insights into the company’s longstanding cardiac management service, an innovative program established in Australia. He outlined the unmet clinical need that initially prompted the development of this program and described how it has evolved over time to better serve the needs of both patients and healthcare providers, ultimately leading to more positive clinical outcomes.

A critical focus of the interview was the advocacy efforts of patient groups such as hearts4heart, for the sustainable funding of cardiac technical services for private patients relying on CIEDs. The interview delved into why this advocacy is of utmost importance and the potential risks posed to patients if private insurers were to cease funding these services and no alternative funding option was to be agreed to by the government.

“We’re proud of the service that we deliver in the community and if health insurers ceased to fund the services by reducing benefits, we risk unravelling what is a remarkable system and the irony is that it will only serve to harm the insurers’ own policyholders,” commented Mr Yuen.

Dr McGee emphasised “Some of the most vulnerable patients…who don’t have the means to travel [to metro areas] to have these devices checked will be disproportionately impacted.”

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