Medical device giant Medtronic is acquiring St. Paul, MN-based Corventis and its heart failure monitoring patch, a top executive for the company recently confirmed.Michael Coyle, the president of Medtronic's cardiac and vascular group, told analysts during a June 5 gathering that there are presently about 4 million patients using some kind of heart monitoring technology, but Medtronic is only competing in a small sliver of the space--the roughly 25,000 with implantable cardiac monitors."Our objective is to disrupt this entire product scheme," Coyle told analysts, referring to the Corventis patches, which he called the "Medtronic Patch" in his presentation.

The Corventis acquisition had already been rumored--with estimates of a purchase price around $150 million. A Medtronic spokeswoman did not disclose additional information about the deal.Corventis has developed easy-to-apply, temporary sensors that can detect nonlethal arrhythmia including atrial fibrillation, as well as fluid retention. Data is communicated via cellular networks.Coyle noted that the patches were originally employed in India, where access to diagnostics is limited but cellular networks are widespread. But the patches were successful enough that Medtronic, which has already invested in Corventis, saw the potential to bring them to the developed market. Expect the Medtronic Patch in the U.S. market around the end of 2014 or early 2015, Coyle said.The patch is but another example of how Medtronic is seeking to be a chronic heart disease management company, versus just a pacemaker and other implantable devices maker in the cardiac space.Last year, Medtronic bought telehealth company Cardiocom for $200 million.

Chris Newmarker is senior editor of MPMN and Qmed. Follow him on Twitter at @newmarker.