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Medical device manufacturers routinely design products that, even a few short years ago, were the stuff of science fiction. And let’s not even mention the amazing research underway today that will animate tomorrow’s medical products, from Tricorder-like devices performing on-the-spot diagnostics to 3-D printers producing replacement body parts. But there’s a problem: money. To succeed in today’s marketplace, medical device original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) must take into account funding and reimbursement pathways, the critical role that health technology assessment (HTA) can play, and other factors that may have little to nothing to do with how well or how safely a device performs its intended task.

Incontinence is a condition that often gets associated with age. When we think about incontinence we tend to think first about elderly people and that’s normal because over 60% of nursing home residents are affected with some kind of incontinence (from mild to severe). However, European studies estimate that between 4% and 8% of the total population are affected, regardless of age. As our populations grow older, it is fair to say that more and more people will suffer from it. This could be your neighbour’s condition and you wouldn’t even know about it!

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has become a hot topic among the international health community. I am sure that for all healthcare stakeholders achieving UHC would be like a dream come true.

I’m fascinated by organisations. In particular, I’m in intrigued by the way some organisations succeed at their chosen task whilst others fail. There are, of course, lots of explanations for what separates “the wheat from the chaff”, as we English say. Some academics say it is the firms’ capabilities and resources, others their culture, still others put it down to leadership. But all of these are what one might call “static” explanations.

Just last week I was sitting in a presentation by a large Group Purchasing Organisation (GPO) which cited an Ernst & Young report in which hospitals had ranked their goals for cost savings. What struck me is how a majority of the surveyed hospitals want to reduce costs by cutting in the spending on medical devices. Why is this so striking? Because spending on medical devices, and more in particular medical device consumables, accounts for only 3% of total health expenditure, whereas spending on hospital organisation (internal processes, staff, …) accounts for 70%. So if hospitals want to reduce costs as efficiently as possible, can greater savings not be made in areas other than those that make up a minority of the total expenditure? And do we really want to slay the goose with the golden egg, the medtech industry, whose tremendous innovative capacity will be a conditio sine qua non for sustainable high quality healthcare for the citizens of Europe into the future?

As I was commuting back to Brussels last week, a copy of The Economist laid out in front of me, my eye was immediately drawn to the title of that week’s Leader. Who wouldn’t be inclined to read on when an enticing header such as “Life should be cheap” is staring right at you. Intrigued […]

The recent report from the European Commission into the reuse of single use medical devices reminds me of Hamlet. The Danish prince, like the Commission in their report, had to contemplate the nature of action, and whether to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles […]

Sitting on the tram this morning, flicking through my e-mails and preparing for the busy day ahead, I began to muse on the incredible impact that information technology has had on my life. Doing this sort of communication was inconceivable even when I had my first management role. My own personal secretary was highly skilled […]

The blogosphere has been driven into a foment over the last week or so by a paper by Groeneveld et al entitled ‘Increasing Use of Cardiovascular Devices and Rising Health Costs’. Its conclusions are interesting but, I suggest, not conclusive of anything which should prompt policy makers to ask further questions. Discounted for inflation the […]