Author: Joel Appleberry | Curvo MedTech Market Leader
The medical technology or medtech sector develops, manufactures and distributes medical devices, diagnostic tools and health information systems. Unlike research-centric medical biotechnology, medtech is more focused on patient care at every stage, from prevention to treatment.
The professionals representing medical technology companies interact with clinicians and healthcare supply chains and play a role in patient treatment. This article looks at ways to leverage data for more effective engagements.
Medtech teams who collaborate with healthcare providers are responsible for collecting, normalizing and understanding an ever-expanding amount of data about medical devices.
Medtech sales, R&D analysts and others have a critical need for data in order to:
Just as healthcare systems face more complexity and medical device data hurdles on their side, so too do medtech analysts and sales teams. Traditional data management practices are cumbersome, complex and a drag on medtech professionals just trying to do their jobs.
RFx processes in particular spotlight the obstacles to validating market data. Cross-referencing different devices is important, but requires time-consuming, manual processing that still can lead to inconsistent output.
According to KPMG, medtech sales growth is affected by multiple market and buyer conditions:
Managing the medtech business is becoming increasingly complex, thanks in part to adjacent shifts on the provider side. Health systems still operate on thin margins, while the influence of finance and procurement teams in sourcing decisions has grown. Medtech must address the shift to the economic buyer on the provider side, who comes armed with their own enriched data (often from Curvo.)
Some analysts say value creation in medtech has fallen off, but that problem has also opened the door to a new commercial approach. Medtech leaders can transform their commercial models by adopting digital tools that identify the most strategic customers and highest-potential opportunities.
“Most of the genAI-related activity in medtech to date has focused on device enablement, functionality, and R&D, with untapped opportunities in commercial, supply chain, and other business functions,” according to McKinsey.
Commercial models must evolve to support new products, meet changing customer expectations, and position for the future. What can help overcome these challenges facing medtech? Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) helps medtech find those opportunities and enhance engagements with healthcare sourcing teams and clinicians.
What will it take to help medtech teams overcome their data challenges? KPMG talks about empowering sales teams by equipping them with “customer data, modern digital tools, … install base data and account insights.”
Medtech sales teams also need to validate and support concerns of both the clinical and economic buyers through credible data stories. Clearly a call for digital transformation in medtech master data management.
Several technologies have gained traction in solving data management challenges for medtech and medical product distributors. The various healthcare-specific products developed by Curvo satisfy robust requirements for data, tools and insights. Read on for overviews of Curvo solutions for medtech and use them as a guideline for evaluating digital tools.
Similar to the standard subscriptions offered to providers, market-specific Curvo DaaS can enrich medtech product data, help with categorization, and provide benchmarks. A DaaS subscription provides proactive and customized market data management. Curvo’s ongoing data validation ensures information is consistently up-to-date and accurate.
With over 30 years of data and experience behind it, the gold-standard Generic Implant Classification (GIC) system is robust and comprehensive. Part of Curvo DaaS delivery, the classification system supports construct identification at the procedural level. Additionally, while many classification systems are only one- to two-dimensional, the multidimensional GIC works with greater accuracy and depth in clinical product data.
Covering over one million parts from over 1,000 suppliers, the classifications are reviewed and adjusted to ensure data quality. When new technologies are developed, the classification is modified to accommodate relevant changes. This data can be segmented to meet specific needs and comes with with 29 enriched fields like material size, benchmarks and purchase volume from the prior years/quarters.
Curvo has introduced a number of price-specific tools that both providers and manufacturers find valuable for ease of use and quick results.
Provide individual users and teams on-the-fly access to item-level (SKU) insights, including average selling price (ASP) product classifications and recall notifications. Many professionals use this tool to confidently prepare for meetings with providers, go-to-market strategy development and competitive analysis.
Load large contract files and competitive utilization files to quickly extract item-level (SKU) insights like ASP and product classifications for the complete file in minutes.
Leverage utilization files that medtech team receives from providers (usually lacking case data) and determine procedures at case level based on products used. Identify combinations of components used by orthopedic surgeons, revealing relevant costs, usage trends and anomalies.
With analysis, benchmarks and visualizations, medtech distributors can analyze their own portfolio against a competitor’s product line, and see ASP for products. This information can influence pricing and go-to-market strategies for new products.
The benefits of purpose-built DaaS and analytics for medtech users are significant. Positive outcomes from more data-driven workflow and decision making include:
The medtech market is entering a new phase of informed economic buyers and data-driven engagements. Medtech manufacturers and medical product distributors who prepare with a DaaS-driven strategy will be well-positioned for success.
We work with a variety of channel and technology partners who share our goal of optimizing outcomes, while reducing the overall cost of healthcare. They turn to Curvo to transform data operations and improve collaboration with providers. Want to learn how we can support your sales and analyst teams? Reach out to me at joel@curvolabs.com.