The U.S. is 2nd in the world in terms of per-capita medical device spending (Switzerland is 1st), but in terms of a fraction of spending medical devices account for a rather small sliver of the U.S. healthcare pie.
Medical devices made up less than 5% of total healthcare spending in the U.S. from 2006 to 2011, but the small portion that medtech did take grew modestly in that period of time, according to a report from the Canadian Health Policy Institute.
In 2006 U.S. patients spent an average of $275 on medical devices per capital, which amounted to about 3.9% of per-capita healthcare spending in total. By 2011 average per capita spending grew to $369 and medical devices made up 4.3% of total healthcare spending.
That puts the U.S. 44th in terms of highest medtech expenditure as a portion of healthcare spending, according to the CHP report.
The report somewhat corroborates a study issued by medical device industry lobbying group AdvaMed, which reported in October 2012 that medtech spending and pricing had barely budged in more than 20 years. AdvaMed’s study put the medtech portion of the U.S. healthcare piece closer to 6% by 2010.
Medtech groups have had to battle some reports that have characterized the industry as a prime driver of increased healthcare spending in the U.S. Last year the Bipartisan Policy Center released a report concluding that overuse of expensive and unnecessary medtech innovations is among the primary sources of the skyrocketing cost of healthcare in the U.S.