More Than Products, Medtronic Provides System Makeover in Chile

PUERTTO MONT, CHILE – Laying in a hospital bed, Jofre Marcelo doesn’t hold back.

“You come here scared to death. I don’t wish this upon anyone.”

After a heart attack, it would be anyone’s natural response. Thankfully, doctors at Clinica Universitaria in Puerto Montt, Chile, had the right equipment and expertise-at the right time-to insert a stent in Jofre’s 50-year old heart. 

“That makes all the difference,” he says.

While Jofre is thankful for a successful procedure, there was a process behind the procedure that most patients never see.

“This a model that makes systems more efficient,” says Dr. Marcelo Lindh, the interventional cardiologist at Clinica Universitaria. “And it’s extraordinary to me.”

Dr. Lindh plays a leading role in a partnership with Medtronic that is helping cut costs for the hospital and provide greater access to care for heart disease patients – like Jofre. The company is well known for its world-class medical technology, but today it’s moving beyond products and providing strategic solutions - behind the scenes - to health systems around the world.

In Chile, the Medtronic Integrated Health Solutions team is managing several cath labs throughout the country with the goal to improve efficiencies, reduce wait times for procedures, and provide affordable opportunities for physicians to use the latest in medical technology.

“When I arrived here, many people said this was impossible,” said Dr. Lindh. “But we showed them that the results are optimal.”

The new partnership with Medtronic has allowed Dr. Lindh to treat an additional 220 patients he may not have seen otherwise – connecting them to better care closer to home.  In the past, patients in Puerto Montt traveled hundreds of miles to a hospital in Santiago for treatment.

“Having Medtronic support us is big,” he says. “Everybody wins.”

With Medtronic managing the facilities, eight additional hospitals have partnered with the company throughout Chile in order to offer life-saving procedures in cath lab settings.

“We are not just providing products,” says Juan Toro, Vice President of South Pacific for Medtronic. “We are offering hospitals an entire process.”

Medtronic leaders believe the model will give physicians a new level of support, allowing them to put their patients’ needs first.

“We will give them the best tools available to conduct the best possible process,” says Toro. “It’s a commitment to better outcomes at lower costs.”

Jorge may not see all the changes behind the scenes, but he says he’s thankful for the care he received – and an outcome that will allow him to get back to living his life.

“I didn’t feel like a number here,” he says. “I wasn’t just a paper placed on the end of the bed.”