Why partnerships between medtech companies and doctors are so important

As new devices and technologies are being developed in the medtech industry, doctors and physicians have to learn about the devices on platforms that are different from what they know. One way to help make the healthcare provider’s transition into using new devices easier is to forge a partnership between the industry and the physician, according to Laura Dietch, CEO of BioTrace Medical (Menlo Park, Calif.).

BioTrace Medical is a medical device company that makes temporary pacing leads to improve patient outcomes while also reducing hospital costs. The company’s Tempo Lead uses an active fixation mechanism, bipolar electrodes and a soft tip to create secure and stable cardiac pacing and reduce complications following cardiovascular procedures.

“We are pleased that the growing adoption of the Tempo Lead is resulting in an increasing body of evidence that continues to validate the Lead’s safety and effectiveness, both intra- and post-procedure, as well as its contribution to reducing costs,” said Dietch. “The Tempo Lead is already migrating throughout the hospital wherever safe, stable, temporary pacing is needed.”

Physicians have a special way of doing things once they learn how to do it, Dietch said. They tend to learn on certain devices or procedures that may become outdated after a few years when new technologies come out.

“They stick to what they know to provide good outcomes,” Dietch said. “The faster adoption of technology and working together to develop better devices and better procedures results in better patient outcomes.”

In the past, and especially in interventional cardiology over several decades, the partnership between industry and physician and other healthcare providers has driven innovation forward, according to Dietch.

“I think there are certain specialties that are really conservative and it’s more difficult to enable innovation. But when there’s a partnership, it has driven innovation forward at a very fast pace which has resulted in better care,” Dietch said. “I think transcatheter aortic valve replacement is one example of that.”

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement used to be performed surgically with high morbidity and mortality. Now, the procedure is being performed percutaneously with outcomes that match or are better than surgical procedures.

While it can be more difficult to enable innovation on certain devices, Dietch says that a collaboration will help innovate those difficult devices or procedures.

“That’s how the industry has helped drive forward the delivery of better healthcare in the past,” Dietch said.

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