Participants at the virtual MedExecWomen forum included, clockwise from top left, Anjana Harve, Fresenius Medical Care; Jodi Eddy, Boston Scientific; moderator Meghna Eichelberger, Boston Consulting Group; and Harvard lecturer Luba Greenwood, senior advisor to CEO, Dana Farber Cancer Institute. (Image courtesy of MedExecWomen)
Nearly half of medtech executives polled in a recent survey said their companies are prepared for the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that is sweeping the globe.
Forty-eight percent of the 71 MedExecWomen Fall Forum attendees who responded to the question reported their companies’ readiness hinged on scalable remote commercial capabilities, a bolstered supply chain and pandemic response protocols.
Forty-one percent said they are starting to implement measures learned from the first wave, including getting traction on remote capabilities, starting on supply chain mitigation plans and putting preliminary response systems in place. Only 11% reported that their company hasn’t made significant changes in the way they’re working. These latter executives said their firms have limited scalable remote commercial capabilities and have made minor supply chain changes.
The poll was taken during the Nov. 10 virtual forum, “At the Cutting Edge of Digital Health,” which included female senior medtech leaders in the cardiovascular, diabetes and surgical spaces.
“We’ve reached a tipping point for telehealth — 70% of visits were virtual during the pandemic and we may see 50% continuing to be virtual in the long term,” said panelist Jodi Eddy, chief information and digital officer for Boston Scientific, in a news release. “Digital health bridges three traditional hurdles: access to information, adherence to guidelines (clinical process improvements), and isolation, and this year social distancing has added to this.”
“COVID had been a giant experiment for us,” added Anjana Harve, SVP & CIO of Fresenius Medical Care regarding the current explosion in the use of digital tools. “It’s forced a lot of good discussion, opened the doors that would have taken years.”
The meeting was sponsored by Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson, Boston Consulting Group, Bank of America, Latham & Watkins, Insulet, ZS Associates, Medtronic, Halloran, Medi-Vantage, MedTech Strategies and Kathleen Rowe Associates.
