Medical device makers are losing clout as hospitals buy practices, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The companies are losing influence over physicians in a time when slumping markets and lowered product prices already mean financial downturn. When hospitals acquire physician practices, the physicians are in closer contact with hospital administrators, who want to control costs for expensive hospital devices.
Device makers have previously benefited when self-employed physicians, who don't care about cost but have preferences about brand, influence the hospitals' purchasing decisions.
According to the report, the trend of physician practice acquisition may mean an oligopoly of several big medical device companies, such as Medtronic, Boston Scientific Corp. and Johnson & Johnson's DePuy unit, that battle over limited market share.
The number of medical practices owned by hospital jumped from 25 percent in 2002 to 55 percent in 2009, according to the report.
Read the Wall Street Journal report on medical device makers.
Read more on medical device companies:
-HIMSS Analytics Measures EMR, Medical Device Integration
-Hospitals, FDA Use Tracking System to Find Faulty Medical Devices
-7 Largest Group Purchasing Organizations for Hospitals
The companies are losing influence over physicians in a time when slumping markets and lowered product prices already mean financial downturn. When hospitals acquire physician practices, the physicians are in closer contact with hospital administrators, who want to control costs for expensive hospital devices.
Device makers have previously benefited when self-employed physicians, who don't care about cost but have preferences about brand, influence the hospitals' purchasing decisions.
According to the report, the trend of physician practice acquisition may mean an oligopoly of several big medical device companies, such as Medtronic, Boston Scientific Corp. and Johnson & Johnson's DePuy unit, that battle over limited market share.
The number of medical practices owned by hospital jumped from 25 percent in 2002 to 55 percent in 2009, according to the report.
Read the Wall Street Journal report on medical device makers.
Read more on medical device companies:
-HIMSS Analytics Measures EMR, Medical Device Integration
-Hospitals, FDA Use Tracking System to Find Faulty Medical Devices
-7 Largest Group Purchasing Organizations for Hospitals