Category: Health

Exploring the World’s Largest Medical Device Maker

As a rule, we follow the technological advancements of corporate giants in tech health to help inform those of us individuals choosing to define for ourselves who we are and what we want to be in a world of powerful corporate and governmental elites. That means knowing the world and those tracking us, good and bad.

Incredible advancements are made every day by health companies seeking to do good in the world, no doubt. However, we need to follow and examine them to enhance our own capabilities and positioning. We are not victims, we are active agents in our lives. Our Health is Our Own!

This week we get back to our third installment in our investigation of the world’s largest device maker: Medtronic (Full Disclosure, We are invested in Medtronic). As we have already done a mini-introduction, a deeper first step into understanding this company, and an exploration of the cardiac subdivision, this week we turn to the second segment recognized within this company and its second largest, the Minimally Invasive Therapies Group.

Segment Under Review: Minimally Invasive Therapies Group

This group within Medtronic comprises its second largest division. Whereas the Cardiac and Vascular group brought in $10.5 Billion in Revenue for Fiscal Year 2020, the Minimally Invasive Therapies Group garnered $8.4 Billion. So needless to say, this is a critical component of what Medtronic focuses on.

Despite its size, getting started on this exploration is difficult as the site does not delineate such a division so easily. Company reports like the one linked above for reporting the revenue of the division list it, LinkedIn has a page dedicated to it, but the home site for Medtronic doesn’t list a specific set of pages under the heading. Instead, Medtronic has a page dedicated to Covidien, no joke. Apparently this was a company acquired by Medtronic back in 2015 to help expand the medical reach of the company.

As for this division, we’ll begin by gleaning what it is meant to be from the LinkedIn page, then we’ll dive into the company’s Covidien site to learn more.

Unique Partnering Opportunities Link Medtronic to Full Process

From what we see above, its dedication is about extending the reach, quality and efficiency of overall healthcare. But what does this mean as the statement seems so generic. Exploring the LinkedIn site, as stated, does give us a fascinating clue.

The site describes, with a video that can be seen here, a new partnership with Amazon for the delivery of PillCam™ capsules (new platforms for endoscopy – a multivitamin size camera pill that uses AI to examine your gastrointestinal track). Once your receive and swallow the pill, a whole new take on red pill/blue pill, you’ll transmit data (in the form of images from inside you) to your physician and new treatments can be planned accordingly if necessary. Its a whole new world of minimally invasive treatments, and Medtronic is streamlining the process not just the tech.

Its clear that this company wants to integrate device-based healthcare deeper into not only daily care. But, with the inclusion of direct diagnostics in our bodies. It is doing so by stepping into commercial delivery systems, with the likes of Amazon to be able to accomplish such a goal. End to end health care delivered on Prime!

Going to the Source: Web Material from Medtronic

Moving to the site, we see a clear dedication to the tech where Medtronics is upfront about its bread and butter, the best in class product line of tech that runs a wide range of fields from general surgery to patient monitoring.

It does appear that the site is moving away from the Covidien name, toward the more general, yet descriptive term. However, as we see above, the site and the division is still clearly linked to its lineage.

However, with a bit of pandering. As it is clear that the message is a directed one for the ESG audience.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the product line, however, is the integration of AI and monitoring tools into the offerings. Right alongside hemorrhoid treatments we see the likes of Gastrointestinal Artificial Intelligence and Health Informatics and Monitoring.

Its clearly not just about devices anymore… as the focus is moving toward holistic care through technology. In combination with modules use to house/operate an artificial intelligence alongside the PillCams (discussed above), it appears that Medtronic is cleanly positioned to be integrated as an end to end servicer for detection and direction of potential treatments. Could this be the start of tech-automated medicine where the traditional doctor-patient visits, expensive trips to specialists, and weeks of waiting for results are reduced into swallowing a pill and receiving directive for treatment (from the patients point of view).

Its clear from this investigation that minimally invasive doesn’t only mean limited intrusion into the body, yes the site does show a host of tools to simplify surgical procedures etc, but more over a redevelopment of the whole process that is technologically enabled. Perhaps minimally invasive health care too could become oxymoronic; instead engaging invasion on new levels with regard to our medical care.

This second devision of Medtronic appears to be targeted toward truly redefining medicine and healthcare more generally. This does stand in contradiction to the statement we found a few weeks ago when Medtronic’s Cardiac group declared that it “does not practice medicine or provide medical services.” (For our review of the Cardiac group click here).

We should be prepared. For those who think the AI Doctor is a thing of science fiction, perhaps they should reconsider. And the Minimally Invasive Therapies Group / Covidien (such a crazy coincidence in these times), may just be leading the charge to such a future.

We realize the processes involved in healthcare are far more complicated than we present here, however, we see possibilities that are very real nonetheless an we look forward to seeing so much more in our exploratory journey through this company. And hope to give our audience the tools to help bring a bit of understanding of the different facets of technology in health along the way.

Join us next week as we explore the Restorative Therapies Unit of Medtronic. We look forward to our journey together into the world’s largest Medical Device Maker. See you next time.

Good Day Cyberites and welcome to the BCB Cyber Health Blog post for January 19, 2021. The place that seeks to offer the latest hi-tech, low life interpretation of the tech-built Health world around us to cyber-fuel our unique, digital, individualized passions.

Hold your horses… before we get going we want you to know that yes, next week we will return to our exploration of Medtronic and all its layers. And it case you missed it, you can check out our Wealth Analysis on the world’s largest medical device maker from yesterday.

In the meantime, we just had to share out a few things. Yes, you guessed it from the graphic above, no not directly above, yes the one above the Medtronic one, that after we explore that Health Mega-Cap Tech Company, we’ll flip the script toward another topical exploration in cyberpunk’d health. We are going to offer a bit of an expository analysis (fancy words for investigating a specific topic) on the status of finally having the ability to upload our minds!

For those of us who were sucked into the tech’d up cortical stack world of the new sleeve, new body, old you with Altered Carbon (#CommissionsEarned; if you saw the series it is definitely worth a read too), we were promised, by Psychasec, the opportunity to finally gain the “body we deserve.” So the question is, where is it??? How close are we to achieving such a thing? And if so, when the heck do we get to meet Takeshi Kovacs? It doesn’t matter which version, Takeshi is just a badass.

In any case, we digress. That series will begin upon the heels of our explorations into Medtronic. And, we just can’t wait for the opportunity to transfer our minds into a whole new physical reality!

In the meantime, back to today and our current state of mind… global health issues continue, only now they are coming to track your health movement! Don’t believe us, passports built on our health record are just around the corner and the world’s biggest players in Tech are pounding at the door, as “Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle Join Hands To Develop COVID-19 Vaccine Passports.” Not its not only our privacy that is at risk it is our potential for freedom of movement! It’s time to watch those who watch us and speak out.

Don’t believe us just Google it!

At the start of December, the BBC reported no plans for such a thing, by the end of the Month they were making the case for it, and now the world’s largest tech companies are making it possible. Welcome to the true birth of our cyberpunk dystopia… enjoy! Do we think it’s time to increase our abilities as tech-enhanced individuals???

Anywho… good food for thought! Happy Tuesday, Y’all. See you back here for some more cyber-fueled Wisdom tomorrow.

For the first time, we can take on the responsibility of monitoring our own health with a pocket EKG.

Heart Health Closer to Home

Today’s health tech can help make that happen. Join us next week as we do a full product review on AliveCor’s Kardia Mobile (#CommissionsEarned). Checking out the world’s most innovative company working to bring heart health closer to home, check out their site.

We’ve purchased ours and plan to spend the week checking it out so we can give a full review for our community… debuts next Sunday! We are not doctors and always recommend seeking out professional medical care, but we also recommend that the masses take back the understanding of their own bodies. See you all tomorrow!

Exploring the World’s Largest Medical Device Maker

As a rule, we follow the technological advancements of corporate giants in tech health to help inform those of us individuals choosing to define for ourselves who we are and what we want to be in a world of powerful corporate and governmental elites. That means knowing the world and those tracking us, good and bad. Incredible advancements are made every day by health companies seeking to do good in the world, no doubt. However, we need to follow and examine them to enhance our own capabilities and positioning. We are not victims, we are active agents in our lives.

This week we continue with our investigation of the world’s largest device maker: Medtronic (Full Disclosure, We are invested in Medtronic). As we have already done a mini-introduction and a deeper first step into understanding this company, this week we turn to the first segment recognized within this company, the Cardiac and Vascular Group.

Segment Under Review: Cardiac and Vascular Group

As expected, this group focuses specifically on heart & blood vessel health and provides levels of support that range from management to surgery, including a variety of devices that assist with all levels of care. Within Medtronic, the technologies used are broken into two product lines: Cardiac Products and Vascular Products.

In addition to the product line, Medtronic’s Cardiac Group site also delivers the range of product integrated therapies that are offered:

Despite all the fancy terminology, Medtronic seeks to provide much greater and deeper levels of understanding to professionals through its Medtronic Academy and to patients/caregivers onsite, and through YouTube as well. Not only does the latter look to provide patient insight, and the most recent research, but gives the broader community a view into how the Medtronic Cardiac and Vascular Group sees future innovation.

Thanks to MedtronicCardiac

One of the most curious statements in the video from MedtronicCardiac above is the number of patients monitored. By 2018, the site lists that 1 Million patients had indeed been monitored. Patient data is alive and well and being collected regularly and has been for some time. That isn’t going anywhere and we need to be keenly aware of this.

In conjunction, Medtronic does a good job of illustrating the monitoring process as well via YouTube (see video below) and also does a good job of illustrating tracking through its use of medical ID cards and personal information; in doing so, they provide both terms of use and privacy statement made readily available on their site.

Thanks to MedtronicCardiac

Finally, perhaps the most curious thing about this device division is that it self proclaims that it, Medtronic more generally, “does not practice medicine or provide medical services.” However, Medtronic does hold over 49,000 patents in its total health-related portfolio. And for a company that neither practices medicine nor provides medical services, it is a truly unique player in the healthcare field.

Ultimately we see a truly beneficial company working to increase the health and well-being of individuals around the globe through the application of technology and we certainly applaud those efforts. It is also definitely a company tracking the individual that receives the devices, no doubt with quality intent and offering the patient insight into those processes.

When we often see and hear so many media reactions to the negative regarding big tech and data, it is refreshing to see that there are tech companies working to not only share information regarding information collection, medical device application, and design so readily. However, as always, they are not without their detractors.

We look forward to seeing much more in our exploratory journey through this company. And hope to give our audience the tools to help bring a bit of understanding of the different facets of technology in health along the way.

Join us next week as we explore the Minimally Invasive Devices Unit of Medtronic. We look forward to our journey together into the world’s largest Medical Device Maker. See you next time.

Exploring the World’s Largest Medical Device Maker

As a rule, we follow the technological advancements of corporate giants in tech health to help inform those of us individuals choosing to define for ourselves who we are and what we want to be in a world of powerful corporate and governmental elites. That means knowing the world and those tracking us, good and bad. Incredible advancements are made every day by health companies seeking to do good in the world, no doubt. However, we need to follow and examine them to enhance our own capabilities and positioning. We are not victims, we are active agents in our lives.

Top Level Review: Who is Medtronic?

So we’ve already started with some teasers and a mini-introduction. However, we thought a deeper introduction was necessary for such a deeply rooted company in the global healthcare market. So that’s where we begin this week with “Who is Medtronic?”

The mission statement for the company builds 6 founding principles, or tenants, around their foremost priority: “to contribute to human welfare.” As Medtronic itself emboldens, the six tenants the company follows to accomplish this priority can be summarized as follows: (1) “alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life,” (2) “direct our growth in the areas of biomedical engineering,” (3) “strive without reserve for the greatest possible reliability and quality,” (4) “make a fair profit,” (5) “recognize the personal worth of all employees,” & (6) “maintain good citizenship.”

Despite these admirable attributes, Medtronic could easily be targeted as the megalithic corporate giant set on world health domination that we see in so many cyberpunk tropes. Just have a look at the PSYCHASEC intro to the Altered Carbon Trailer below.

Thanks to moviemaniacsDE

And then compare the opening graphic to materials from the companies website offered to describe their products.

Yet, this company does appear to have deeper, more elementally humane roots, a seemingly sincere mission/focus, and a track record of device construction, that yes, is rooted in improving the human experience. They are, however, also not without their detractors which we will explore in this series.

From the founder of Medtronic, Earl Bakken, on, Medtronic since 1949 has been a leader in medical device manufacturing. In fact, Bakken was himself a tinkerer in tech, an engineer at heart, like so many of us, that led him into the world of corporate health.

Thanks to WCCO – CBS Minnesota

Today Medtronic has grown from simple cardiac devices to include the “develop(ment), manufactures, distributes, and sells device-based medical therapies to hospitals, physicians, clinicians, and patients worldwide.” The company does this through the integration of four distinct, recognized segments: “Cardiac and Vascular Group, Minimally Invasive Therapies Group, Restorative Therapies Group, and Diabetes Group.”

Over the coming weeks, we are going to begin 2021 with a deeper dive into exploring the distinct segments of corporate health giant Medtronic, moving then to the corporate culture of the company, followed up by an examination of the company’s finances (full disclosure BCB is invested in Medtronic; an aspect we’ll be fully covering later this month), and finally, we’ll take a deep dive into the news that’s generated around this company over the last several years.

We look forward to our journey together into the world’s largest Medical Device Maker: Medtronic. See you next time.