Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) today introduced Every Patient First, a health equity initiative that, in partnership with health care providers, professional societies and patient advocacy groups, aims to reduce disparities in access to health care in the United States. The announcement was made at the 59th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) in Atlanta.
“This strong collaboration of industry and associations will lead the way to providing physicians and practices with real solutions for delivering quality care to all Americans”
“Medtronic’s vision is to improve overall access to life-saving therapies for everyone, regardless of age, gender, race, or ethnicity,” said H. James Dallas, senior vice president of Quality and Operations at Medtronic. “Every Patient First is more than an awareness program; our goal with this initiative is to provide health care professionals with targeted, actionable strategies and partnership programs to help them overcome barriers to getting patients treatment for their cardiovascular disease.”
Significant differences in medical care, particularly for women and the elderly, were identified in the baseline data from the largest study of United States-based heart failure (HF) patients in the outpatient setting from the Registry to Improve the Use of Evidence-Based Heart Failure Therapies in the Outpatient Setting (IMPROVE HF). Specifically, women were less likely than men to receive an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) when indicated (43.2 percent vs. 53.7 percent), education about their condition (59.2 percent vs. 62.4 percent), or anticoagulation treatment for atrial fibrillation (64.8 percent vs. 70.9 percent), and older patients were less likely than younger patients to receive certain types of guideline-indicated interventions.
To address these disparities and as part of Every Patient First, Medtronic is launching the following two collaborations, which offer physicians and providers process improvement tools and educational programs aimed at driving equity in care: