HEALTHCARE NEEDS NEW ANSWERS
Hospitals in the US are financially fragile and the pandemic has brought many to the verge of bankruptcy. Meanwhile, advancements in pharmaceuticals and medical technology carry the promise of better patient care – and a hefty price tag that threatens the hospitals’ financial and clinical sustainability….
Healthcare needs a different type of solution: Products and services that reduce the cost of care while improving patient outcome. Healthcare needs pharmaceutical and medical technology companies to stand up, take responsibility and partner with hospitals to enable better care at a lower cost. This is not happening.
In cardiology, few initiatives are available that significantly reduce costs while allowing hospitals to improve the quality of care. Single-use device reprocessing has the potential to reduce medical device costs in some cardiology procedures by 30% without adding risk, freeing resources for hospitals to invest in better care.
Innovative Health is leading the development of new reprocessing technologies that help hospitals reduce cardiology costs significantly.
ATRIAL FIBRILLATION IS A CHALLENGE FOR U.S. HEALTHCARE
Electrophysiology has made it possible for healthcare providers to offer an alternative to lifetime medication with severe quality of life costs to patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AFib), one of the fastest growing disease areas in the country. As a consequence, the number of AFib Electrophysiology procedures is growing rapidly.
There will be an expected 240,000 Atrial Fibrillation procedures in the US in 2020, using some of the most advanced technology available in healthcare. We will spend more than $2.5B on medical devices in these procedures.
Because reimbursement cannot always cover the cost of expensive technologies, these procedures are not offered to all that could benefit for them, and many hospitals will be losing money on the procedures – or they will use outdated, inadequate technology. About half of the procedures will be successful.*
*SOURCE: Journal of Atrial Fibrillation, August 2015
DEVICE COSTS DRIVE ECONOMIC CONSTRAINTS
The economic and clinical limitations in Electrophysiology are a major challenge, and it’s all about the cost per procedure of medical devices.
Many hospitals depend on elective procedures like AFib procedures to offset losses on other service lines. Therefore, procedure profitability is financially critical. However, manufacturers constantly launch new, more expensive technologies in Electrophysiology, driving up the per-procedure costs, often without demonstrable improvement in outcome.
In most AFib procedures hospitals will spend more than $10,500 on medical devices. Almost all devices are designated “single-use” by the manufacturer, so they do not come with cleaning instructions, and the expectation is that the device will be discarded after one use. However, the manufacturer does not need to provide a rationale for why the device should only be used once. Some individual catheters cost more than $4,000.
Hospitals used to clean and re-use these devices to reduce costs. For patient safety reasons, this is no longer possible.
REPROCESSING: SAFE AND ECONOMICAL DEVICE UTILIZATION
Innovative Health is an advanced, FDA regulated reprocessing company focused on Electrophysiology devices. This means we gain FDA clearance to reprocess and sell back FDA single-use cardiology devices that have been used one or more times.
FDA’s granting of an FDA clearance for a reprocessed device means that FDA has determined, based on data submitted by Innovative Health, that the reprocessed product is substantially equivalent to the new device (it functions the same way) and does not represent added risk to the patient. Over the years, physicians and lab managers have come to appreciate the FDA clearance process for reprocessed devices and have found that they are safe and effective.
Using reprocessed devices instead of new ones reduces the device costs per procedure significantly. A $2,500 device becomes a $1,300 device, for example. Based on Innovative Health’s clearances, an Electrophysiology lab can reduce the device costs of an AFib procedure by 30% or more than $3,000.
This means procedures become more profitable and the hospital can acquire new technology and potentially treat more patients.
REPROCESSING SAVINGS CALCULATOR
*Potential savings calculated based on existing device clearances, optimal buy-back and collection rates, and average device rejections. Savings will vary based on contracted prices.
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Advanced Device Clearances
Focused Program Execution
Making Better
Technology Affordable
FDA Cleared and
Doctor Approved
ADVANCED, SPECIALTY EP REPROCESSING
Other reprocessors offer electrophysiology and cardiology products. However, as a specialty reprocessor, Innovative Health is focused entirely in cardiology. This means we focus our investment in new reprocessing technologies and FDA clearances in this area only. As a result, we get more clearances to reprocess still more complex technologies. This means hospitals can achieve higher savings.
Today, Innovative Health has FDA clearance to reprocess several complex mapping catheters, diagnostic catheters, and other electrophysiology devices that no other reprocessor can offer. As a result, regardless of what technology the physicians prefer, we can deliver lower cost solutions.
On average, this means saving more than $1,000 more per procedure than with our leading competitors.
