Recent legislation being considered by the Massachusetts legislature's Joint Committee on Health Care Financing will make it more difficult for hospitals to use reprocessed medical devices, according to the Association of Medical Device Reprocessors (AMDR).

The bill, Massachusetts S.B. 2433, was introduced by Sen. Susan Tucker (D), whose district includes medical device giant Smith & Nephew, the group said. The bill relates to patients' right to know of the re-use of certain medical devices manufactured for a single use.

Physicians and other medical professionals "overwhelmingly support the use of reprocessed medical devices," according to market research data made available by the AMDR. The data resulted from focus groups organized and moderated by MedPanel, an online medical market research firm.

"Passage of this legislation would increase cost pressures on Massachusetts hospitals because using reprocessed devices typically saves a hospital fifty percent of the cost of a new device," the group said.