The invention is directed to an externally applied coordinator for communication and/or control of 2 or more implantable medical devices that may utilize different telemetry communication techniques. The coordinator receives telemetry signals from 2 or more implantable medical devices and provides functional direction to each of the devices to provide coordinated therapy and/or diagnostic function. The coordinator automatically configures itself for communication with a given medical device based either on the telemetry signal it receives or programmed by the physician. Specifically the coordinator is implemented as a software based, power efficient receiver/transmitter based upon an inexpensive, simple motor-controller DSP.