BusinessWeek – Medical Device Award Winners

One product mentioned in the winner’s circle is Merlin. You can do a search of the blog as I have several posts relative to the product from St. Jude.

St. Jude Medical Announces FDA Approval of New Features with Merlin for Implantable Cardiac Devices

St.Jude Collaborates With Microsoft HealthVault

Check out some of the other devices, click on the image below to see more. Several of the products have been mentioned on this blog too in the past. Also note, the mention of how many of the devices now connect with personal health records, that makes it easy for data input, in other words no typing. BD

“Each year, the Medical Design Excellence Awards (MDEA) celebrate new products that improve our health and quality of life. Judges base their decisions on criteria that include the innovative use of materials, the user-related design features of a product, and aspects of a design that improve a company's own bottom line.”

Cardiac medicine is moving to the home: An implanted electronic device constantly monitors a patient's well-being. Software makes a potentially life-saving prediction and, through a wireless network, alerts the doctor to the urgent problem. The device adjusts treatment as ordered by the physician on the other end.

Such wireless networks, known as telehealth or remote patient monitoring, are not only advancing care, they're turning into marketing tools that companies can use to sell surgeons on their pacemakers and other implanted cardiac devices (ICDs). The pitch? Home-monitored patients should have fewer health problems, but only those with compatible implants can sign up for each provider's service.

The new software can combine hundreds of measurements taken from medical devices with other information stored in electronic health record databases such as Microsoft's Health Vault (MSFT) and Google Health (GOOG) to predict changes in a patient's health. St. Jude, based in St. Paul, Minn., says the system also has better doctor alerts and comes in more languages. The network is a free service to those with enabled devices.

(On Apr. 7, the Merlin products won a Medical Design Excellence Award; to see other winners click here.)