Medical e-News Round-Up - Issue 41

This issue covers:

Medical Device Tax facing the axe

The U.S. medical device tax is the issue that won’t go away. Elected officials and medical device companies began railing against Obamacare’s medical device tax before it even became law and have complained about it ever since it did.

Now with a Republican majority in Congress and bipartisan support from legislators in states that host major medtech firms, it appears the 2.3% tax may be axed from the Affordable Care Act by the end of March, according to a report in the political news website thehill.com.

Paulsen and Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) said they expected lawmakers to replace the money lost in a repeal, the Hill report said.

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who last April called the levy a “stupid, dumbass tax,” does not believe a “pay-for” will be necessary to get Paulsen’s bill passed. The incoming chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Hatch proposed his own repeal bill last year.

Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN.) have also long opposed the tax, and medtech companies have paid lobbyists significant sums of cash to pressure Congress to repeal it.

More at www.qmed.com/news

Passing the test in Tel Aviv

One of the largest hospitals in Israel uses Rigel Medical’s range of testers and analysers to improve the testing and calibration of biomedical devices.

The move allows The Herzliya Medical Center (HMC) to simplify testing procedures as part of an in-service planned preventative maintenance programme overseen by its Biomedical Department.

This has seen improvements in the speed and ease by which electrosurgical units (ESU), vital signs monitors, infusion devices and defibrillators among other items of medical equipment are maintained and checked for electrical safety and performance accuracy.

The Rigel 288 automated safety analyser, Uni-Therm electrosurgical generator calibrator, Uni-Pulse defibrillator analyser, Multi-Flo infusion pump analyser and Uni-Sim combination vital sign simulator are among the Rigel Medical products the hospital’s uses for compliance with standards including IEC 62353 IEC/EN60601-1, VDE 0751-1, AS/NZS 3551, AAMI, NFPA-99, MDA DB 9801-2006.

Director of the Biomedical Department and engineer Tamim Jaber said that turning to Rigel Medical met the HMC’s ‘real life biomedical’ requirements, providing the first opportunity to bring all aspects of biomedical testing within a single software solution (Rigel’s Med-eBase) and to generate reports and certificates for all devices under test.

France medical devices market worth over $20 billion by 2020, says report

A new report estimates that the size of France’s medical devices market is expected to reach approximately $20.8 billion by 2020.

The ‘CountryFocus: Healthcare, Regulatory and Reimbursement Landscape – France’ report identifies the trends in the healthcare market and provides insights among other matters on the demographic and regulatory landscape, and healthcare infrastructure of France.

It has been prepared using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research and an in-house analysis by GlobalData.

The positive trends in the country’s healthcare market can be attributed primarily to an increasingly elderly population, universal healthcare insurance, and a high degree of access to healthcare facilities.

In 2012, France's population was approximately 65 million, but the growth rate is decreasing steadily - possibly due to a negative balance between the mortality and birth rates, and a low net rate of immigration. Domestic policymakers are also wrestling with the problems of a Eurozone crisis, a declining working population and an increasing elderly population.

The scope of the report includes an overview of France’s medical devices market, including the market size, market segmentation, key drivers and barriers. Analysis includes details of the regulatory agencies and the approval processes for new medical devices while there’s an overview of the opportunities and challenges for growth that exist in the healthcare market. More at www.cnbc.com

Search for pioneering healthcare innovators

Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s Medical Director, has launched the NHS Innovation Accelerator programme.

Together with hosts UCLPartners and The Health Foundation, NHS England is inviting healthcare pioneers from around the world to apply to develop their tried and tested innovations across parts of the NHS.

The programme will focus on the conditions and cultural change needed to enable the NHS to adopt innovations at scale and pace, aiming to improve outcomes and give patients more equitable access to the latest products, services and technology.

Applicants should be experienced innovators in healthcare who are currently leading or working on new technologies, services and processes that have the potential to make a real difference to patient outcomes.

The programme will offer successful candidates a range of support to develop and spread their innovations across parts of the NHS, such as access to international leaders in healthcare development and established networks through high calibre mentors including Lord Ajay Kakkar, Lord Ara Darzi, Sir John Tooke and Sir Sam Everington.

Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s Medical Director, said: “Britain has made a significant contribution to medical science and humankind.

“The Innovation Accelerator will build on our enviable history of discovery and innovation by embracing cutting-edge healthcare innovators from around the world to improve patient care while reducing costs and providing better value for the taxpayer.”

Details at www.england.nhs.uk

Improved safety analyser makes for faster testing

The improved battery powered 288 analyser from Rigel Medical delivers faster and safer testing of medical devices and installed equipment.

The 288 is one of the most recognised electrical safety analysers on the market today, renowned as the smallest, most compact tester of its type in the world. It incorporates unique technologies and features to provide enhanced performance and improved electrical safety testing of equipment to the appropriate standards including IEC/EN 62353 and IEC/EN 60601.

While most conventional testers rely on mains power, the improved battery powered 288 retains operational integrity, even without mains connection, due to standard AA battery power compatibility. This provides greater user flexibility and makes it quicker to complete in-service testing of point-to-point leakage as well as earth continuity and insulation resistance.

And because the 288 does not require a lengthy power cord to operate, there are no trailing cables to cause potential trip hazards, making it even safer and more convenient to set-up and use on-site. Further time saving benefits are achieved because the analyser’s battery power back-up avoids the need for lengthy boot-up times between tests.

Up to 10 individual patient leakage circuits can be checked in a single test routine, while a further benefit is the ability to automatically warn users of incorrect test set-ups, helping to avoid incorrect readings – it is the only tester of its type providing automated verification of secondary earth paths and incoming mains configuration.

The 288 forms part of a comprehensive range of high performance biomedical test equipment supplied by Rigel Medical. You can find out more at www.rigelmedical.com/288

Watch out for us in 2015

Don’t forget you can catch Rigel at several events this year. March (29 – 31) will see us at MD Expo Nashville before returning to Europe for the EBME seminar (30 April 2015) in Milton Keynes, UK.

Summer will see us at June’s AAMI Conference & Expo (5 – 8 June 2015) in the USA, and then in the autumn at the MD Expo, Las Vegas (21 - 23 October).

The last event of the year will be MEDICA, the world leading medical trade fair, from the 16 – 19 November. Full details at www.rigelmedical.com/events