Category Archives: Medical Device Manufacturers
Shhhhh…The Affordable Care Act’s Middle Class Tax Burden
With all the talk about “the fiscal cliff,” did anyone notice the absence of discussion about the ObamaCare tax increases? President Obama’s claim that he was protecting the middle class from tax increases went completely unchallenged in this context. Even the Republicans were silent on the matter. And here are the facts: Five of the new tax increases Americans are facing this month are new taxes created under the Affordable Care Act –and three of those five hit the middle class right square in the forehead. The new tax on health insurance is about as regressive as it gets. It [...]
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Premier & Britain’s Deltex Medical Partner to Research Enhanced Recovery Pathways
The Premier healthcare alliance and Deltex Medical have initiated a new research partnership to improve care for colorectal surgery patients. Deltex Medical is a British medical technology company which has pioneered evidence-based approaches to individualized intra-operative fluid management. It is the world’s leading manufacturer of Esophageal Doppler Monitoring (EDM) equipment which allows doctors to identify and manage small changes in circulating blood volume with far greater precision. The company’s individualized Doppler-guided fluid management technology, CardioQ-EDM™, has been proven to reduce complications, shorten hospital length of stay, and lower costs for patients undergoing surgery. The new research partnership, called the Performance [...]
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St. Jude Medical (ICDs) Can’t Get Off the Ropes
The medical device maker St. Jude Medical said Monday that it had received a warning letter from the FDA about problems with manufacturing and quality control at a California plant where it makes implantable heart defibrillators. In a regulatory filing, the company said that it is working to correct the problems at its plant in Sylmar, Calif., and does not expect the citation to affect its financial results. The warning was expected after St. Jude announced in October that its Sylmar plant had been visited by federal inspectors. Under the terms of the warning letter, the FDA will not approve [...]
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Vendormate’s Medzo Out of the Gates and Enjoying Early Adoption Success
A few months back, we reported that Vendormate, long known as a leader in the healthcare vendor credentialing space, released an online utility that connects providers to a wider array of qualified vendors with far greater precision than traditional supply networks. As we said, although the new service, called Medzo, sounds a lot like another searchable supplier database, that characterization just doesn’t do it justice. It can’t, because it ignores all the uniquely valuable data Vendormate was able to leverage when developing the new service. The early adopters are embracing Medzo for everything from basic medical supplies to innovative physician [...]
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Best of 2012: The Current Medical Device Sales Model is Unsustainable
After moderating a panel at this year’s HSCA Expo on the topic of Strengthening Ties Between GPOs and Suppliers, I did a post entitled, “Is Selling Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) a Waste of Time.” The post referenced related comments made by Premier’s VP of Business Develop and Supplier Relations, Dave Edwards, where, in short, he and the other panelists (all GPO senior executives) offered up some advice to would-be GPO suppliers that addressed their complaints about the sales process for securing contracts for new products. At the argument’s extremes, suppliers would say that GPOs stifle innovation because the process [...]
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The Strategic Value of B2B Commerce in Healthcare –Still not Sure?
Mr. Steve Keifer joined GXS in 2004 and has been a key evangelist of B2B e-commerce, speaking at conferences around the world about its societal, economic and competitive benefits. In fact, he recently authored a book entitled Herding Geese—The Story of the Information Supply Chain. It’s a good read –I recommend it. While trying to find the book, I also ran across an older post written by Steve that caught my attention. He was commenting on the age-old debate about the strategic legitimacy of Information Technology (IT) investment. On the one hand, especially given its pervasiveness, it is argued that [...]
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Varian’s Strong 2012 Performance Foreshadows Break-Out in 2013?
It’s that time of year again. Time for predictions. Go ahead and Google “what’s hot for 2013” and prepare for a deluge of investment advice. But do yourself a favor. Don’t let the headlines tell you what to buy in 2013. Instead, let the market tell you what to buy. Follow the institutional buyers. The prevailing wisdom is suggesting that the home building industry looks poised to take a breather. Institutional buying could change that, but it doesn’t appear likely at this time. And while leadership could come from the financial sectors in 2013, don’t buy in anticipation, wait for [...]
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Novation Releases Paper Exploring How to Quantify the Benefits of Mobile Technologies
Mobile technology is changing the landscape of health care delivery, especially in the developing world where its impact on people who live in remote areas –who now have the ability to consult with the physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers who live in the major cities, can be easily measured in terms of improved outcomes. It’s life and death stuff. Said Dr. Alain Labrique, a professor of International Health at Johns Hopkins, “what mobile technologies are doing is changing the way that we see global health in terms of our ability to impact populations, to collect data in real time, [...]
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Owens & Minor Pushing GHX’s Web-to-EDI Solution Into its Supply Chain
In the CPG industries where top-notch companies like P&G and Unilever continue to re-set the bar in terms of supply chain sophistication, that’s where you’ll see this happen. That’s where you’ll see the mothership (the branded manufacturer) push its best supply chain management practices down and into its supply base. And why not? After all, if you’re going to demand cost cuts and other tangible value adds from your suppliers on an annual basis, then it only makes sense to help them identify and implement the same SCM tools that you have used successfully to achieve your own performance objectives. [...]
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Baxter Acquires Gambro AB –Renal Supply Markets Further Consolidate
Baxter International announced today that it would buy privately held Swedish dialysis product company Gambro AB for about $4 billion ($2.8 billion in cash plus debt) to complement its kidney therapy portfolio. Baxter will finance the deal, which it valued at $26.5 billion Swedish kroner. Baxter reported cash reserves of $3.2 billion as of Sept. 30, and posted a $2.2 billion profit last year on revenue of $13.9 billion, so its pockets are plenty deep. The Gambro acquisition will round out Baxter’s renal business, which accounted for almost one-fifth of the company’s 2011 revenue of $13.89 billion. Gambro was founded [...]
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Time Definite Logistics –MNX Expands Global Network and Adds Track & Trace
After writing about the major and strategic moves that 3PLs and 4PL service-providers are making into the healthcare sector, I have received several letters and press announcements from a number of those companies. It’s not just an indication of the sector’s increasing appetite for the healthcare supply chain, but an obvious sign of the growing demand that the healthcare sector has for more and customized levels of logistics service –whether it knows it or not. Formerly known as Midnite Express, MNX is one example of a 3PL hungry to establish a strong business presence in healthcare. The company offers services [...]
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Gartner’s Healthcare 2012 Supply Chain Top 25 –The Winners!
Gartner Inc. has released its fourth annual Healthcare Supply Chain Top 25. The Top 25 for 2012 ranking identifies healthcare organizations that Gartner sees as leading the way in transforming their supply chains to meet the new value requirements (i.e. “accountability metrics”) in healthcare. “Now that the US 2012 election cycle is over, organizations have greater clarity… all segments of the healthcare value chain understand that reform is now moving to implementation and the good news is that most organizations on our ranking anticipated and prepared [in advance of the election results],” said Barry Blake, senior research analyst, Gartner. “The [...]
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3PLs Moving Into Healthcare Supply Chain –Low Hanging Fruit for All
Third-party logistics firms (3PLs) are essentially travel agents for freight. They generally do not own transportation equipment, but instead buy capacity from the carriers who do –the truckers, railroads, steamship lines, or cargo airlines, and then mark it up and resell it to the shippers. The cost of purchased transportation is highly variable for 3PLs because they primarily buy capacity in the spot market. As a result, in periods of macroeconomic weakness when capacity loosens and carrier pricing falls, 3PLs can pass those declines to shippers on a lag, thereby expanding their gross margins. Despite how robust the 3PL business [...]
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GHX Takes Its Shot at “The Perfect PPI Order”
First, there was heaven and earth and then, there were PPI (Physician Preference Items). Were it not for that second “P” in PPI, SCM life would be so much more simple. Especially for sourcing and procurement professionals. For them, it’s the difference between identifying a savings opportunity and actually getting the chance to implement it. It’s those pesky uppercase “C’s” in Change Management and Contract Compliance that dance in their collective heads –certainly not sugarplums. Think about it. For example, had generations of clever device sales people not successfully convinced physicians that four plate screws were better than six… well, [...]
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HSCA Weighs-in with Formal Commments on UDI to FDA
Last week, the HSCA weighed-in with its formal comments to the FDA in support of a swifter UDI implementation. No difficult to hit curve balls, just a lot of well-documented common sense nicely summarized by Curtis Rooney, HSCA’s president. What follows is a concluding excerpt taken from Mr. Rooney’s and the HSCA’s 24 page letter: HSCA is committed to the UDI system and improving patient safety. HSCA believes that the FDA should maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the UDI system by adopting the GS1 System as a model, establishing a GTIN-based UDI, a GUDID synchronized with publication of attribute [...]
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Masimo’s CEO Named 2012 Ernst & Young LIfe Sciences National Award Winner –Finally!
Joe Kiani, founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Massimo Corporation, has been named the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 Life Sciences Award Winner. The award is well deserved, as the story behind Kiani and Masimo is good stuff –a genuine tribute to Kiani’s personal ethics and perseverance. “We are pleased to honor Joe Kiani with this esteemed award and recognize him for his perseverance, passion, and innovative mind –all of which continue to make a positive impact on healthcare and patient monitoring technologies,” said Bryan Pearce, Americas Director, Entrepreneur Of The Year, Ernst & [...]
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- Healthcare in the Cloud: Forecast Still Hazy : HIMSS 2013: Top Takeaways Gathering Clouds said: [...] to David McCament’s mind, the future of healthcare cloud is not so clear. In a gue... more
- Time Definite Logistics –MNX Expands Global Network and Adds Track & Trace : Daniel said: Everything is very open with a precise description of the issues. It was definitely inform... more
- Varian Runs a “Clinic” in Effective Lobbying –Harry Reid Rides Shotgun : Thomas Finn said: Thanks for your comment Bo. I do not fully comprehend the differences between the two opti... more
- Varian Runs a “Clinic” in Effective Lobbying –Harry Reid Rides Shotgun : Barton 'Bo' Cooke said: Tom, you nailed it. This rider, put in at the last minute and was rushed into the Congres... more
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