In Medical Devices, Is "Good Enough" Good Enough?

Executive Summary

Device companies have historically been rewarded for even incremental technology enhancements with premium pricing by a price-insensitive customer, all in the spirit that no improvement to the clinical episode would go unrewarded. But in a health care system that is trying to balance exploding costs and greater access, such a goal becomes simply unaffordable. Instead, payors, hospitals and even physicians, encouraged by government policy makers, will increasingly look for technology that delivers an acceptable clinical outcome at a better price.