Remote patient monitoring company Medtronic Care Management Services  is partnering with telemedicine technology and services vendor American Well to enable a complete telehealth system focused on the unique needs of the complex, chronic, co-morbid patient population.

The businesses will work together to enable patient access to American Well’s telemedicine services on Medtronic Care Management Services’ video-enabled platforms, and to allow bi-directional data flow between the two parties.

The telehealth system will provide information from Medtronic Care Management Services’ remote patient monitoring to clinicians performing consultations using American Well’s telemedicine capabilities, and enable information from these telemedicine visits to be included in Medtronic Care Management Services’ clinical management software.

The partnership is designed to provide greater patient access to their care team while improving clinician access to the critical information needed when making care decisions – especially as they evaluate opportunities for early intervention, the companies explained.

“Providing care to complex, chronic, co-morbid populations requires access to, and coordination between, multiple clinical specialties,” said Sheri Dodd, vice president and general manager, Medtronic Care Management Services. “Our work together will help clinicians gain a more complete view of a patient’s health status when making care decisions, and will help ensure access to information from telemedicine interactions is available to the broader care team while the patient remains in their own home.”

The use of telehealth solutions is increasing in part due to the increasingly complex, chronic, co-morbid patient population, whose multiple disease diagnoses require ongoing attention from several clinical specialties, and whose care drives more than 70 percent of total U.S. healthcare spending, the companies explained.

“This will help clinicians more effectively manage patients while providing patients with flexible access to expert care when they most need it,” said Dr. Ido Schoenberg, CEO of American Well. “These new capabilities will serve clients of both Medtronic Care Management Services and American Well, enhancing the capabilities available to health plans, major health systems, and other customers pursuing more efficient care of complex patients.”