Say hello to MassDevice +3, a bite-sized view of the top three medtech stories of the day. This feature of MassDevice.com’s coverage highlights our 3 biggest and most influential stories from the day’s news to make sure you’re up to date on the headlines that continue to shape the medical device industry.
3. Medicare’s Sunshine Act changes could hit device makers in the pocketbook
Medicare regulators are looking for feedback on proposed changes to the laws governing transparency in financial relationships between doctors and healthcare companies, warning that the changes may represent a hefty new cost for medical device makers in particular.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services asked healthcare industry stakeholders to offer comments on 4 proposed modifications to the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, half of which are expected to have little to no practical impact, where the other half may mean a substantial upgrade to existing compliance programs. Read more
2. Judge nixes alleged settlement in Stryker, Biomet poaching spat
A federal judge in Michigan yesterday shot down a settlement alleged by Biomet in a poaching spat with Stryker and a pair of former sales representatives.
Stryker sued orthopedics rival Biomet last year, accusing it of a scheme to poach reps and business from Stryker in Louisiana and New York. Christopher Ridgeway and Richard Steitzer allegedly conspired with Biomet in the scheme, according to the September 2013 lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for Western Michigan. Steitzer quit in June 2013 to work for Biomet; Stryker fired Ridgeway Sept. 10 of that year, according to the lawsuit, after discovering that he was allegedly running a pair of medical supply businesses on the side. Read more
1. CEO Brian Concannon on the past and future for Haemonetics at MassDevice.com’s DeviceTalks
More than a year ago, Haemonetics launched a major restructuring effort, moving nearly 300 manufacturing jobs out of the country in an effort to cut between $35 million and $40 million by fiscal 2018.
The cuts were painful, not only for the 42-year-old blood management company and its workers, but for CEO Brian Concannon, who grew up only a stone’s throw from the company’s headquarters in Braintree, Mass. Read more