ECRI, LSE Join Forces to Examine Device Pricing in Multiple Countries

ECRI Institute is partnering with the London School of Economics to examine medical device pricing.

The pair will analyze pricing trends in France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the U.S. They will look at specific device categories, rather than individual manufacturers.

Products will range from everyday items to complex and high-risk implantables, explains David Watson, vice president for operations at ECRI Institute Europe.

The project will use ECRI Institute’s PriceGuide, a comprehensive medical-surgical supply and implant procurement advisory service with pricing on nearly 1.5 million medical/surgical supplies and implants.

Device-related spending is concentrated in cardiac and orthopedic specialties, where expensive implantables are chosen by physicians, he says. These devices are referred to as “physician preference items.”

“Little is known about factors that determine prices of PPIs, and some studies suggest that prices, usually included in case-based payments to hospitals, may vary significantly between countries and between different hospitals in the same country,” he tells IDDM. ― Jonathon Shacat