A sales rep’s visit could be worth as much as $230 per case in surgeons’ use of coronary stents, according to a study in the American Heart Journal. The presence of a company sales rep in the cath lab increased the likelihood that surgeons would opt for drug-eluting over bare-metal stents, researchers said.
The study, aimed at understanding the impact and influence of sales reps in PCI cases, examined the selection of stents in 1,145 patients over a 12-month period from 2008-2009.