Patent ID: 8005546

Claim:
A system, comprising: an implantable medical device comprising a memory and at least one sensor, the implantable medical device configured to sense data indicative of a patient's medical condition and the performance of the implantable medical device, and configured to store the data in the memory as a full set of data, the memory of the implantable medical device configured to store an indicator configured to be placed in an enabled condition or a disabled condition by a processor of the implantable medical device, the implantable medical device further comprising a wireless transceiver configured to send and receive data, an external monitoring unit comprising a wireless transceiver configured to send data to and receive data from the implantable medical device, the external monitoring unit configured to poll the implantable medical device to determine whether the indicator is in an enabled or disabled condition and to: when the indicator is in a disabled condition, initiate a download of the full set of data and induce the implantable medical device to place the indicator in an enabled condition following a download; when the indicator is in an enabled condition, initiate a download of a subset of the full set of data, process the subset of data to determine whether the data corresponds to a significant change since a previous download based on a plurality of pre-selected criteria, and initiate a download of the full set of data when there has been a significant change, and a server connected to the external monitoring unit over a network comprising a database, the server configured to receive the data indicative of the patient's medical condition and the performance of the implantable medical device and store the data in the database, the server further configured to allow access to the data indicative of the patient's medical condition and the performance of the implantable medical device by a networked medical computer station.