Syndicom

Last month Jane Sarasohn-Kahn posted about how medical technology is the #1 factor driving up health spending in the US according to the Center for Studying Health System Change and their recent report, High and Rising Health Care Costs: Demystifying U.S. Health Care Spending.

It seems that these pieces of hardware used by surgeons in curing, stabilizing and managing medical challenges are not exactly transparent in terms of the kinds of value they truly bring patients. Some of the factors clouding the usefulness of medical devices include a  lack of useful outcomes data and corruptions of the purchasing decision driven by group purchasing organizations, the bonds between physicians and their hospitals, and physicians and medical device companies. In her summary, Sarasohn-Kahn suggests that studies in clinical effectiveness comparing existing technologies with new ones and practices which reward physicians for using devices which demonstrate the highest patient value would contribute to both better purchasing decisions and a reduction in health cost inflation.

For several years now Syndicom has been working with medical device companies in SpineConnect towards accomplishing just this kind of work. SpineConnect is currently host to more than 15 medical device companies who are both large and small start-up firms with some partners acting also as sponsors. The goals of these companies are simple – the best products, guided by best practices and the best surgeons based on real life cases. In these partnerships, SpineConnect acts as a collaborative platform for private groups within which medical device prosumers (producer-consumers) can expedite product development and clinical trial processes as well as sustain surgeon mentoring and fellowship activities. By working together in this way, the community becomes a place for user friendly and patient valuable devices which will hopefully lead to better economic and physical health for all.

So if you are interested in “cutting edge” developments (pardon the pun!), clinical trials in progress or furthering your own professional development, browse the groups and take a tour of the community — news pops up everywhere…

Remember, together we rise!

With thank to jinxb, lizjones112 and for their art this week!

Kirsten Broadfoot

Tags: best practices, clinical effectiveness, clinical researcah trials, clinical research, clinical trial, clinical trials, collaborative platform, community, fellowship, health care cost, health care costs, health system change, medical best practices, medical devices, medical devices companies, new technology, patient value, product development, purchasing decisions, Sarasohn-Kahn, spineconnect, surgeon mentoring

This entry was posted on Friday, December 12th, 2008 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Blog.