Analyst Says Orthopedics Makers Will Lose Pricing Power
Bruce M. Nudell, an analyst at wealth management firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Company recently surveyed 100 hospitals on what they pay for artificial joints and thinks the pricing variation on these products is unsustainable. Because hospitals are increasingly aware of these discrepancies in a context of emerging price transparency, Nudell reckons prices will flatten or even decrease. A majority of the surveyed hospitals - which as a whole perform about 60,000 joint operations a year - said they procure half or more of the joints they use from a single vendor.
However, Robin Young, the publisher and editor of Orthopedics This Week, was interviewed by the New York Times and said patients might be willing to foot a bigger part of the bill if hospitals wouldn’t, because of how much they valued the expected impact a joint would have on their lifestyle.
June 29, 2006 Related topics: Medical Devices & Products, Orthopedic, Cost savings