Medtronic Opens Singapore Center of Excellence; Establishes New Business Unit in Europe

Minneapolis, Minn.-based medical device powerhouse Medtronic Inc. has had a busy few weeks. The company closed August with the official opening of its new global Center of Excellence for Business Model Innovation in Singapore; the first days of September saw the company open a new business unit, Medtronic Hospital Solutions, focused on providing hospitals with services to improve operational efficiency; and in the United Kingdom, Medtronic signed long-term contracts with the National Health Service (NHS) to manage its catheterization laboratories, responsible for producing diagnostic images of the heart and arteries.

The Center of Excellence adds to Medtronic’s existing regional office in Singapore, which is also the company’s Asia Pacific headquarters, and will be responsible for designing, testing and scaling new business models for the rapidly growing developing markets across Asia. In addition to developing new financial approaches, the center will also develop new commercial models to systematically address market growth barriers, which would be piloted in one country and possibly rolled out across several markets around the world, and in particular in emerging markets in Asia.

“We strongly welcome Medtronic’s decision to establish its Global Center of Excellence for Business Model Innovation in Singapore,” said Kevin Lai, director of biomedical sciences at the Singapore Economic Development Board. “Emerging markets in Asia provide tremendous growth opportunities for companies, but also present new challenges. This Global Center of Excellence for Business Model Innovation will enable Medtronic to address market-specific needs and barriers more effectively through Singapore. This is an example of the new capabilities that Singapore is partnering with companies to build, to support their growth in Asia.”

“The center is well positioned to leverage Singapore’s ecosystem and geographic proximity to developing Asia to address healthcare delivery challenges for this region and beyond,” added Sundeep Lal, Medtronic’s international vice president of strategy, business development, and business model innovation.

The launch of Medtronic’s new unit, Hospital Solutions, is what enabled the new contracts with the NHS. The new business will focus initially on offering services in Europe to manage and modernize catheterization laboratory (cath lab) facilities, bringing sustainable efficiencies and programs to hospital cardiology departments.

Medtronic will be managing  cath labs at the University Hospital of South Manchester (UHSM) NHS Trust and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London. Under the new tenders, Medtronic is charged with managing these hospitals’ cath labs to high standards, providing the latest medical technology and infrastructure, optimizing operational efficiency, running daily operations, and developing local cardiac services markets, including the care pathway for patients who need access to cardiac care. Medtronic will also administer four UHSM cath labs at Wythenshawe Hospital and five Imperial College Healthcare cath labs based at Hammersmith Hospital.

“The creation of this new business within Medtronic underscores our commitment to develop innovative services and solutions that create efficiencies, address costs, and improve patient access and outcomes for a broader set of hospital customers,” said Omar Ishrak, Medtronic chairman and CEO. “We recently announced our acquisition of Cardiocom, which extends our presence and impact in chronic disease management, as part of our expansion beyond devices to healthcare services and solutions. With today’s announcement, we have now formed a Hospital Solutions business aimed at addressing efficiency and operational improvement exclusively focused on delivering better clinical and economic outcomes and value for hospitals.”

In support of these efforts, Medtronic also has entered into a strategic collaboration with NGC Medical SpA (NGC), based in Novedrate, Italy. NGC has specific expertise and an established track record managing outsourced cath labs in Italy. Under the terms of the agreement, Medtronic has purchased a 30 percent equity stake in NGC, with an agreement to expand NGC’s business beyond Italy.

According to Medtronic, the company saved Maastricht University Medical Center in The Netherlands an estimated $6 million during a pilot program testing the same hospital solutions its new business unit will provide. During this time Medtronic provided on-site program management to help with hospital staff training, embedding a performance improvement culture and driving improvements in efficiency, quality, clinical outcomes and patient experience.

“We are acutely aware of the pressures facing hospitals and believe that we can play a very active role in helping them to manage these challenges,” said Frederic Noel, vice president of Medtronic Hospital Solutions. “This new business is about offering healthcare providers more than products. By applying high quality, efficient lean processes we can provide long-term, all-inclusive solutions that can help hospitals treat patients more efficiently while maintaining the highest quality of care.”