(Transcript below)
Senator Angus King (I-Maine) has a new bill on the floor that he says will correct a fundamental imbalance in the medtech market, namely by imposing more pricing transparency on medical device makers.
The Medical Device Business Journal — Medical Device News & Articles | MassDevice
Senator Angus King (I-Maine) has a new bill on the floor that he says will correct a fundamental imbalance in the medtech market, namely by imposing more pricing transparency on medical device makers.
By: Taha A. Kass-Hout, M.D., M.S.
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Doctors at publicly reported hospitals may be negatively influenced by public reporting protocols, according to a presentation at last week’s Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Intervention 2014 Scientific Sessions.
When doctors know that rates of admissions and deaths are reporting publicly, they may be less willing to take dramatic steps with emergency patients in order to avoid tying a death to an intervention.
Say hello to MassDevice +3, a bite-sized view of the top three med-tech 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.
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — A new study out of Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston suggests that transparency rules might have negative consequences for very sick heart patients.
The study evaluated the frequency of coronary stent implantation in 116,227 Bay State patients, finding that "outlier" hospitals – pegged for having higher-than-average death rates – were less likely to accept the sickest patients.
University of Wisconsin spinal surgeon Dr. Thomas Zdeblick is in the hot seat over a running tab with med-tech titan Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) that’s topped $25 million since 2003.
During that time, Zdeblick, chairman of the university’s orthopedics and rehabilitation department, co-authored several favorable research papers about Medtronic’s spine products, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
The University of Minnesota Medical School sent a warning letter to spinal surgeon Dr. David Polly after he failed to disclose payments received from med-tech titan Medtronic (NYSE:MDT).
Polly violated several of the University’s conflict of interest disclosure requirements by not divulging payments he received from the Fridley, Minn.-based medical device giant in two published journal articles and on one research poster, according to the university.
"Sunlight is the best disinfectant," at least according to former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, and the medical device industry’s main lobbying group seems to agree.
In a letter to U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the Advanced Medical Technology Assn. urged lawmakers to fully implement the Physician Payments Sunshine Provision of the Social Security Act and the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act.
ProPublica, the online investigative website, carried a revealing set of stories Thursday documenting the financial ties between the Heart Rhythm Society, which represents the nation’s 5,100 cardiologists who specialize in arrythmias, and the medical device industry, which manufactures the stents, pacemakers and other widgets designed to protect people with serious heart disease from fatal heart attacks.