Medsider: Learn from Medtech and Healthtech Founders and CEOs

Engaging with patients in a genuine and transparent way is tough.  Really tough.  It’s challenging for all healthcare stakeholders – payers, providers, and industry. From a medtech perspective, we often times get stuck in a certain mindset when trying to engage with patients. Whether it’s a continuous glucose monitor for diabetic patients or a new...[ read more ] Related Stories Substantial and Su...

CMS has an objective to shift 50% of all reimbursement services from fee-for-service to alternative, value-based methods by 2018.  And bundled payment models, according to Dr. Dan Mazanec, will be the principal driver of this transformative initiative. But the topic of value-based healthcare can be pretty confusing , right?  Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement.  Medicare Access...[ read more...

For as long as I can remember, at every company meeting I’ve ever been to, the topic of off-label promotion is always covered.  Whether it was new-hire orientation, a national sales meeting, or some other large commercial event, the dissemination of off-label information was always presented as not only a fireable offense, but something that could get you...[ read more ] Related Stories How Will T...

Jack Dorsey received quite a bit of attention when he was recently announced as CEO of Twitter.  Why?  Because that made him CEO of 2 of the most rapidly-growing tech. companies in Silicon Valley at the same – Twitter and Square. Well, medtech’s version of Jack Dorsey might be Duke Rohlen.  Duke led FoxHollow Technologies...[ read more ] Related Stories Why Intersect ENT is an Example of Hope for...

I’ll be candid. This is an interview I’ve wanted to do for quite some time. During my time at Covidien, I considered myself fortunate to be involved with the acquisition of Sapheon, a startup company that manufactured a disruptive therapy for venous reflux. The more I learned about Sapheon through the diligence process (as well as...[ read more ] Related Stories Why Intersect ENT is an Example of...

When most people think of the wearables space, devices like the Fitbit or the Apple Watch come to mind. But over the past few years, there’s been a lot of development with respect to wearable devices that were designed for the traditional healthcare market. Medtronic launched the SEEQ device. Although implantable, St. Jude commercialized the...[ read more ] Related Stories Why Intersect ENT is an...

Because of diminishing margins, a lot of major medical device companies continue to add products to their sales bag in hopes of meeting top-line revenue goals. But selling the entire bag is challenging. When the bag gets too big, a typical sales force will usually focus only on products that generate the most revenue. So what...[ read more ] Related Stories Why Intersect ENT is an Example of Hope...

Henry Ford is famous for stating, “If I had asked people what they wanted, I would have built a faster horse.” Although it’s arguable whether he ever uttered those words, the statement is still very powerful. And it’s one that Hugh Narciso has taken to heart. In fact, in the early days of BAROnova, when...[ read more ] Related Stories Why Intersect ENT is an Example of Hope for the Medtech Industr...

Sean Moore went from medical device sales rep to VP of Sales for one of the largest medtech companies in less than 10 years. Pretty impressive, right? Just like me, you might be thinking, “How did he do it? Killer sales results year after year? Right place at the right time?” In this interview with...[ read more ] Related Stories Substantial and Sustainable – 2 Words That Medtech Companies Should...

It’s safe to say that IDNs are important customers for the overwhelming majority of medical device companies. Therefore, it’s probably rational to assume that medtech companies do a good job of tracking the changing IDN landscape, right? Wrong. Based on the 2014 ZS Associates Commercial Operations Benchmark Study, only 56% of medtech companies track IDN...[ read more ] Related Stories Substantial...

According to a recent L.E.K. survey of hospital executives, 56% of the respondents haven taken steps to reduce medical device sales rep access to their facilities. In fact, the CEO of an Illinois hospital stated, “We’re constantly trying to limit the sales reps…We want to see what they’re selling before they get a hold of...[ read more ] Related Stories Substantial and Sustainable – 2 Words That M...

Information overload is an issue that all of us face. Finding a decent signal in the midst of a very noisy world is a difficult challenge. Few are able to master it on a consistent basis. And that includes doctors. Check out some of these stats: 100,000 scientific journals are now in circulation. 30,000 new...[ read more ] Related Stories Social Media Best Practices for Marketing Medical Devices C...

What do Stryker, Biomet, Medtronic, and Boston Scientific all have in common? Yes, they all manufacture medical devices. But more specifically, all four of these medtech companies have implantable device divisions. And from 2005 – 2011, the implantable device segment has been the most consistent top performer relative to other categories including: in vitro diagnostics...[ read more ] Related Stor...

Warren Buffet is often quoted as stating, “The best time to be greedy is when others are fearful.” But can this same concept apply to the medtech space? Can limited partners (the investors in a venture fund) be sold on the idea of bankrolling early stage medical device companies? In this interview with Mike Carusi...[ read more ] Related Stories Why Intersect ENT is an Example of Hope for the Medt...

How will healthcare reform affect care delivery and reimbursement? And what will the impact be for medical device companies? These are probably the 2 biggest questions that medtech companies need to answer in order to succeed in the future. Unfortunately, there aren’t solid answers at this point. But there are some people that can help...[ read more ] Related Stories Substantial and Sustainable –...

Picture this. You’re a medical device sales rep covering a procedure in one part of your territory. But unexpectedly, you get a call from a physician needing case support on the other side of your geography. What do you do? There’s no way you can cover the case, right? The drive-time won’t allow you to...[ read more ] Related Stories Social Media Best Practices for Marketing Medical Devices Can Me...

The lean startup movement has become increasingly popular within the tech community after the release of Eric Ries’ book in 2011. Although I personally believe the lean startup methodology is brilliant, some aspects are difficult to apply to the medtech space. For example, it costs significantly less money to iterate on a software idea in...[ read more ] Related Articles Can Medical Device Compani...

The 2.3% medical device tax is burdensome. Regulatory timelines are long (and expensive). Reimbursement is not only decreasing, but also incredibly hard to obtain. Venture capitalists are losing interest in early stage medical device deals. Is it all downhill for medtech? There is no doubt the current healthcare environment is challenging. But certainly not impossible...[ read more ] Related Artic...

Did you know the FDA recently issued a multi-million dollar contract to a private company that will be charged with monitoring social media? Yes, multi-million. Needless to say, that’s a significant amount of money. Although many would argue the FDA has not been very clear regarding its guidance towards social media, you can’t deny that...[ read more ] Related Articles Can Nurep Solve the Ineffici...

As the world of healthcare continues to change and evolve, hospitals and healthcare providers are facing a major dilemma. There will continue to be an increasing number of patients that need healthcare. But, the reimbursement for healthcare services will continue to decline. In other words, there will be more customers checking out, but less money...[ read more ] Related Articles Social Media Best...