Mitchell Sugarman

Director
Health Economics, Policy and Payment
Medtronic
Santa Rosa, CA

Mitchell Sugarman is the Senior Director of Global Health Economics, Policy and Payment for Medtronic's CardioVascular Division. In this role, he is responsible for ensuring that reimbursement is a consideration in every functional area from product conception, through research and development, clinical and regulatory affairs, product launch and marketing. Mr. Sugarman's primary objective is to ensure that providers and payers (public and private, domestic and foreign) have the right information in order to make appropriate coding, coverage and payment decisions about health care. Key to this role is ensuring that clinical trials are designed with an eye towards providing quality data to health care decision makers rather than just achieving regulatory approval. Medtronic's CardioVascular Division produces coronary and biliary stents, balloons, wires, aortic stent-grafts and other products used in the treatment and diagnosis of vascular disease.

Prior to joining Medtronic, Mr. Sugarman worked at Kaiser Permanente for 19 years initially as the Director of a clinical genetics department, and later as the Director of Medical Technology Assessment. This position involved tracking new drugs, devices and procedures as they moved from experimental to non-experimental, and determining whether they should be part of the medical armamentarium. Critical issues evaluated included safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness.

Having worked on both the payer/provider side of health care at Kaiser Permanente, and the industry side at Medtronic, Inc., Mr. Sugarman has a unique perspective on health technology assessment and the need to use this discipline in a practical effective manner.