Recor Medical turns reimbursement data into patient access for renal denervation

The problem

Renal denervation systems received FDA approval in late 2023. Building sustainable hospital access for a new therapy requires a viable financial pathway and for Recor Medical, that meant helping providers understand what they would actually get paid before committing to a program.

Medicare reimbursement for renal denervation is limited in the current transitional pass-through phase. Commercial and managed care rates vary widely by facility and payer. And the people Recor's team most often works with, hospital administrators and economic buyers, weren't aware of what their own managed care contracts looked like for the procedure.

"The sky's not falling for all of your payers. But sometimes our primary points of contact aren't even aware of what some of their managed care contracts look like." —Sandeep Patil, VP of Market Access, Recor Medical

Without that visibility, economic buyers focused on driving down device costs, a logic that breaks down when a hospital's commercial contracts pay well for the procedure. Reps couldn't counter that narrative without data.

‍"That was always one of the big challenges for medtech and med devices," said Patil. "We think directionally provider rates are probably favorable, but we had no concrete evidence. And the physicians we're working with aren't necessarily made aware of what those contracts look like."

Recor Medical uses Turquoise to bring contracted rate clarity to the field

Recor Medical was already working with Turquoise when Patil joined in May 2025. Two things stood out immediately: the platform's clean interface and the collaborative relationship with the Turquoise team.

"Turquoise definitely has one of the cleanest user interfaces. It was very easy to operate within, which became a good selling point for how our team could leverage the data." said Patil

Field Reimbursement Manager Pascale Duroseau described the working relationship as consistently open and responsive. "The partnership has been exceptional. The ease of use, the ease of contacting the team when we need help. It's been a really good experience."

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The team now uses Turquoise across three primary workflows:

• Re-opening stalled conversations with rate data: When a rep can show a hospital administrator that a specific commercial payer is paying well for renal denervation at their facility, the conversation shifts from "why should we even do this?" to "how do we build a program?" Duroseau described a recent example where Medicare reimbursement wasn't favorable at a hospital but a major commercial payer was paying around $3,000 for the procedure. "The question of the hour was: did you just recently negotiate your contracts based off what we're seeing? Or is there an area of opportunity to go back and do a case rate?" When rates are unfavorable, the data still matters. "At least they have awareness," said Patil. "They know what work they have cut out for them."
• Territory prioritization: Duroseau runs Turquoise data against the West team's target accounts to identify where contracting dynamics suggest the highest probability of success. A recent analysis pointed a rep toward a hospital in Bakersfield, California - an insight that wouldn't have surfaced any other way. "I told the rep: this is the hospital you want to prioritize," said Duroseau. The data also surfaces when an account isn't ready. "The answer isn't always yes," said Patil. "If the rates aren't revealing an opportunity that makes financial sense, then you can turn your attention somewhere else."
• Supporting managed care strategy: Turquoise data helps Recor's team ask sharper questions about what's achievable with a given payer - renewals, amendments, case rates, and single case agreements. Duroseau uses market rate benchmarks to push providers to negotiate for rates in line with the market. "If we know what every hospital in a specific market is getting paid, wouldn’t you want to know where you stand?” Patil added that pointing to what a comparable health system down the road is getting from the same payer makes those conversations concrete. "It's helpful just having what the market basket is showing."

The outcome

At a national sales meeting, Patil walked reps through contracted rate data for their accounts. The reaction was immediate.

"They were like, 'I didn't know my hospital was getting paid that amount. Now they can go back to their physician champion and say, we're going to get paid quite well for at least this subset of payers. It becomes a much easier story for them to tell." —Sandeep Patil, VP of Market Access, Recor Medical

Field Reimbursement Manager Shannon Silver described the shift in how providers approach their options. Before having rate data, many facilities anchored entirely on Medicare fee-for-service as their only reference point. "It allows them to think a little bit more creatively," she said. "Whereas before the consensus was, oh, only Medicare fee for service, that's our only moneymaker. Turquoise helps open more conversations."

For Patil, the broader value is about removing the obstacle that stalls programs before they start. "The economics question comes up as basically the second thing they ask."For us to be able to say, here's what that looks like, or here's the work that needs to be done to improve it. It's a big obstacle that we can quickly overcome and keep the process moving forward toward setting up a healthier renal denervation program within a facility."

Looking ahead, Recor Medical and Turquoise are working toward deeper visibility into managed care contract nuances like carve-outs, alternative payment methodologies, and what's achievable by payer and market. Deep collaboration has been a consistent through-line that supports the ongoing partnership. "The Turquoise team joins our calls, asks real questions about what we're seeing in the field, and helps us translate that into something we can actually use with customers," said Silver. "That's what makes this partnership work."