Responding to the challenges hospitals face in the changing healthcare environment, as well as the increasing importance of the hospital administrator as a decision maker in device selection, Medtronic has opted to combine its US cardiac and vascular group sales functions into a single cross‑divisional sales organization. The change is effective at the start of Medtronic’s fiscal year, May 1, 2011.

David Roberts, formerly vice president of sales for the Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management business at Medtronic, assumes the leadership of this new 2,700 person organization as national vice president of cardiac and vascular group sales.

Unique in the medical device industry, the cardiac and vascular group of businesses at Medtronic operate across 15 cardiovascular market segments. According to the company, it maintains leading market share positions in nearly all of them, noting that its cardiac and vascular group of businesses have nearly three times the depth and breadth of its nearest competitors. Cardiac and vascular focused hospital administrators are typically responsible for making device selections across the full cardiovascular spectrum.

ʺOur cardiac and vascular group of businesses have historically focused primarily on clinicians as the primary decision makers for medical device selection for their patients,ʺ says Michael Coyle, executive vice president and group president of the Cardiac and Vascular Group of businesses at Medtronic. ʺWith the growing partnership between clinicians and administrators as they work together to address the changing healthcare environment, our strategy going forward is to leverage Medtronic’s breadth of talent, technologies, products and services across our 15 market segments to help hospital administrators address their unmet needs, while maintaining and strengthening our ability to serve clinicians and their patients,” he says.  Coyle says that this strategy and structure uniquely positions Medtronic as the only medical device company capable of doing both.

ʺMedtronic’s new market strategy reflects how large hospital systems are making device selection decisions today,ʺ says David Hargraves, senior director, clinical supply chain at UPMC, a global health enterprise headquartered in Pittsburgh. ʺBy understanding and helping me meet my institution’s challenges, Medtronic helps us ensure we are better positioned to serve our patients.”

While reporting into the new national sales organization, the direct sales representatives will preserve their traditional business unit focus and expertise and remain dedicated to serving clinicians and their patients. To address the increasing operational challenges faced by cardiac and vascular-focused hospital administrators, Medtronic has created a Strategic Account Management team that now reports into the new sales organization. The company says this team will augment the work of the traditional field representative by focusing exclusively on delivering a cross-business portfolio of products and services to cardiac and vascular‑focused hospital administrators.

ʺMedtronicʹs new structure will allow me, as a clinician, to work better with my institution in achieving clinical and financial objectives,” says William Katsiyiannis, MD, an electrophysiologist and vice chairman of cardiology at Minneapolis Heart Institute.

Medtronic’s Cardiac and Vascular Group is comprised of the Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management, Structural Heart, Endovascular Innovations, Peripheral, Coronary, Renal Denervation, and Physio-Control businesses. Sales leadership from all of these businesses except Physio-Control is included in the new structure. Medtronic announced its renewed intent to divest Physio-Control earlier this year.