News: Medical e-News Round-Up - Issue 46

This issue covers:

USA votes to repeal health law's medical device tax

A Republican-run House committee has voted to repeal a 2.3% tax on many medical devices that helps pay for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

The Ways and Means Committee's mostly party-line 25-14 vote came with Republicans complaining that the levy costs jobs and stifles innovation.

"It's like putting sandbags on the wings of the Wright Brothers as they try to figure out how to fly an airplane," said Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa. Democrats say those claims are exaggerations and complained that Republicans have offered no savings to cover the $24.4 billion in lost revenue the repeal would cost over the coming decade.

The bill was "the obvious effort of Republicans to essentially piece by piece, if they can't do it entirely, to repeal" Obama's health law, said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich.

The GOP-led House has voted three times to repeal the medical device tax since it was enacted in 2010 and the Senate approved a repeal in 2013, though on a non-binding vote. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has introduced a repeal bill in his chamber that has garnered some Democratic support, but no vote has been scheduled.

The tax, which took effect in 2013, does not apply to consumer items like eyeglasses and pregnancy test kits. More at www.dailymail.co.uk

Going Deutsch - New German website for Rigel

Rigel Medical’s German language website is now up and running, providing further support for it’s international customers through added value resources and online tool-kits.

www.rigelmedical.de provides sections covering the company’s range of advanced electrical safety analysers and vital signs simulators along with technical datasheets and brochures. Additional free application information guides and product manuals will be available in the future as the website expands and develops further.

The site includes enhanced search and navigation features providing ease of access to in-depth information on the Rigel range and help users to identify the right electrical safety tester for their requirements. Users can contact Rigel Medical direct for enquiries on all products and register to receive a regular e-mail newsletter giving details of new instruments and technical developments as they are announced.

Medical device technology outpacing regulation

While healthcare services and products are highly regulated throughout their life cycle - from product development to market entry, distribution and post-market supervision - medical regulators have begun to address the question of whether e-health products are caught by these existing regulatory frameworks, which in many cases have yet to finalise their positions.

Regulators are tussling with a need to balance the benefits that come from increased access to health information for patients with the risks that arise from a reduced reliance on physicians in diagnosis and treatment. On the other hand, the lack of a clear regulatory framework itself risks inhibiting new market entrants and limiting the interoperability of products.

In an interesting article www.lexology.com, legal firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP take a look at what’s happening in some of the key markets around the world.

Testing times at Maquet

Maquet, one of the world’s leading suppliers of equipment for operating theatres and intensive care units, uses Rigel 288 to enable medical equipment service engineers to meet the in-service and post-repair test demands of the IEC 62353 standard for in-service testing.

Among the medical equipment and applied parts regularly checked for electrical safety by Maquet engineers are surgical workplace equipment such as operating tables and lighting systems, ventilators and cardio pulmonary machines.

The Rigel 288’s large internal memory facilitates the storage of test results for safety audit and traceability purposes. Test data can be stored for downloading to a PC or output on site via a dedicated print module.

Maquet engineers utilise this facility to print out test results immediately after testing has completed, supplying hospitals with a complete electrical safety record of their equipment at the end of every visit.

Medical device connectivity market to $33.5B by 2019

According to a report by Transparency Market Research, the medical device connectivity market is growing due to the fact that integrating data derived from healthcare devices into electronic medical records (EMRs) saves time, improves patient care, and eliminates transcription errors.

The ‘Medical Device Connectivity Market (wired hardware, wireless hardware and software) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2013 – 2019’ report states that at an astounding CAGR of 37.8% from 2013 to 2019, the global medical device connectivity market is projected to grow from US$3.5 billion in 2012 to US$33.5 billion by 2019.

The key components of medical device connectivity are software, Bluetooth hardware, wired hardware, WMTS hardware, wireless hardware, and Wi-Fi hardware. Wired hardware was the largest segment in 2012, accounting for a 40% share of the medical device connectivity market.

The major end users of medical device connectivity are home health care, hospitals, and others. Hospitals were the largest end users of the medical device connectivity, with home health care identified as a segment having immense growth potential.

Geographically, the global medical device connectivity market comprises four key regional segments: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. North America is the largest market for medical device connectivity, accounting for a 62% share of the overall market in 2012.

The increasing penetration of EMRs in countries such as the U.K. and Germany is estimated to drive the medical device connectivity market in Europe. More at www.onlinetmd.com