Article preview from Start-Up - December, 2011
The cardiac interventional suite has historically welcomed high-tech, cutting-edge tools. But with hospitals scrutinizing expenditures more closely than ever before, such tools must now prove themselves. Hospitals are now placing a premium on technologies that can improve safety, efficiency, and flexibility while streamlining workflow. A handful of companies are now offering products designed to meet these needs, and providers are starting to take notice.
Article preview from Start-Up - December, 2011
The cardiac interventional suite – where catheter-based procedures are employed to treat everything from heart attacks to atrial fibrillation – has historically been a setting where high-tech, cutting-edge diagnostic and therapeutic tools are often welcomed and, in many cases, even conceived and fostered. However, in the current economic climate, with hospitals scrutinizing their expenditures more closely than ever before, such tools must now prove themselves above and beyond what was required in the past. Hospital purchasing departments have clearly raised the bar for new technologies – and many hospitals now require some type of proven, value-added benefit before agreeing to make the purchase. Such qualifications are typically defined as a direct reduction in procedural costs, an improvement in patient safety or outcomes, an added value in terms of reimbursement, or an increase in operating efficiency.
The situation is compounded by the fact that interventionalists are losing some of the clout they once enjoyed that enabled them to readily dictate the purchase of physician-preference items. This is particularly true as a growing number of cardiologists, electrophysiologists (EPs), and other cardiac specialists become direct employees of hospitals. Indeed, physician employees have a direct stake in the financial health of the hospital, and increasingly, hospital administrators are relying on them to help toe the line on system-wide cost control.
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