Orthopedics’ Future Hinges on Technological Improvements (MedicalDeviceNow)
Orthopedic companies should focus on value rather than product innovation in order to survive and thrive in the healthcare industry’s “new normal,” medical professionals contend.
The advice came from a panel of experts who attended Cleveland Clinic’s Medical Innovation Summit 2012. With attendance down due to Superstorm Sandy, the summit’s opening panel, “21st Century Orthopedics: Hands-On Perspectives from Clinical Leaders” extended to an hour, and the much-anticipated panel on the state of healthcare innovation was nixed. The opening panel nimbly addressed some innovation topics as well, adapting well under the extraordinary circumstances.
The panel’s central message was that product innovation will not be the main focus of the future in orthopedics, a sentiment Stryker Corp. CEO Kevin Lobo echoed later in the evening. Rather, said Joseph Iannotti, M.D., Ph.D., the practice of medicine must change. He said caregivers must change how they care for patients and how they get paid. Caregivers also must prove their methods and products are effective.
Medical device designers and manufacturers, meanwhile, must ...
