ChristianaCare will work with Medtronic on a five-year effort to innovate new value-based strategies, collaborating on new approaches to target therapies and technology-enabled intervention on the patients who will benefit most.

WHY IT MATTERS
Under the new agreement, Wilmington, Delaware-based ChristianaCare and Medtronic will have shared financial accountability to improve outcomes while reducing the cost of care, the organizations say.

Of the many technology initiatives being planned for the next five years, one of the first is focused on opioid-induced ventilatory impairment – a condition where opioids used for pain management can inhibit breathing and could cause respiratory distress unless clinicians intervene.

Medtronic and ChristianaCare will work to standardize an enhanced respiratory monitoring initiative to help address OIVI; the project will be designed to identify patients receiving opioids for pain management who are at high risk for OIVI and apply continuous monitoring technology to track breathing, and help alert the care team to abnormal trends.

Other initiatives will focus on new tech-enabled interventions to address chronic conditions such as heart failure and diabetes, officials say – enhancing ChristianaCare's ability to prevent or slow disease progression, reduce hospitalizations and lower overall cost of care for those and other diseases.

THE LARGER TREND
Both organizations hope the project will lead to significant and lasting improvements for health across Delaware and beyond, they say, noting that ChristianaCare's diverse patient population, gaining access to care across a broad array of healthcare settings, offers a valuable opportunity to scale new initiatives that could boost outcomes nationwide.

ON THE RECORD
"Together with Medtronic, we are aligning expertise and incentives to exponentially increase our ability to achieve optimal health — not just better care delivery," said Randall Gaboriault, M.S., chief digital and information officer and senior vice president, innovation and strategic development at ChristianaCare. "This collaboration will implement a new value chain, based on vested purpose, co-innovation, digital and data."

"We recognize that creating healthier communities requires integrated care models, passion to improve the status quo, and an aligned purpose of helping patients live healthier and fuller lives," added Dr. John Liddicoat, executive vice president and president of the Americas Region at Medtronic. "This collaboration with ChristianaCare reinforces our joint commitment to healthcare innovation through value-based arrangements."