Medical devices maker Medtronic plc. Ordinary Shares (NYSE:MDT) and the fifth biggest health care system in the United States that is affiliated with the Catholic Church, Mercy, have inked an agreement to establish a network of data analysis and sharing with a view to gathering clinical evidence necessary for helping innovation with regards to medical technology.

Since there is a tendency for clinical trials to be costly, time consuming and complex, Mercy Technology Services and Medtronic will partner in co-developing a new way of answering questions concerning patient outcomes and medical device safety by accessing valuable clinical information which could have been captured in the course of routine patient care.

Cardiac resynchronization therapy

Initially identified data will be captured in a new data network from 80,000 patients suffering from heart failure with a view to exploring real world factors which determine the response of a patient to CRT – cardiac resynchronization therapy. This is an option for the treatment of heart failure which is clinically proven for some patients. CRT is designed to assist the lower heart chambers to beat in a manner that is more synchronized.

The setting up of a coordinated data network is in line with the vision of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to establish NEST – National Evaluation System for Health Technology. Using a national system will help the regulator generate meaningful analysis and insights from clinical care data. The Medical Device Innovation Consortium recently picked the partnership for use in demonstration purposes since uses scalable methods to generate real-world evidence.

Medical technology innovation

Consequently it is expected that the NEST model will be greatly shaped by this project with a view to offering regulatory decisions that are faster and more cost-effective. It is also expected to accelerate therapy innovation and this will help in keeping patients healthier and safer.

“This has the potential to improve patient care by using advanced data analytics. Heart failure is a complex, progressive condition … This model will lead to evidence-based insights for our clinical teams, and better health for our patients,” said Joseph Drozda, the outcomes research director at Mercy.

On Friday shares of Medtronic edged up by 0.19% to close the day at $78.07.