Tech-Health-Explore: Breaking Down the Companies Tracking Our Bodies: Medtronic Part 3, the Minimally Invasive Therapies Unit

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.