Getting to the heart of the cardiovascular market

Understanding the changing cardiovascular market

​MedTech companies are facing new realities, expectations, and success measures in today's dynamic cardiovascular disease market. Five broad health care trends are reshaping the CVD market, directly and indirectly impacting MedTech companies and their customers. Now, more than ever, MedTech organizations need to get to the heart of the changes taking place; reexamine how best to engage with patients, providers, payers, emerging competitors, and other stakeholders; and assess which strategies they should pursue to position their organizations for success in CVD.​

1. Increasing demand for value
   
   US health care's shift from volume–based, fee–for–service (FFS) payment models to those focused on quality and patient outcomes extends to cardiovascular care. Value–based care (VBC) payment models exist on a continuum, with increasing levels of risk and required capabilities.
   
   The shift to VBC payment models is changing cardiovascular providers' economics and placing MedTech manufacturers under threat of commoditization unless they deliver differentiated, high–impact solutions. Demonstrating product performance is not enough; MedTech companies need to provide evidence that their cardiovascular solutions possess both clinical and economic value and support new financial arrangements and incentives for providers.
   
   Download the PDF to explore the six winning capabilities organizations need to focus on in order to compete in a VBC world.
2. Rising uptake of innovative treatment technologies
   
   Innovative treatment technologies in CVD, such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and 3D printing, are expanding the market for MedTech manufacturers. TAVR enables less–invasive treatment options, which may reduce hospital stays, positively impact patients, and improve health care system efficiency. Along similar lines, 3D printing is gaining increasing popularity in CVD treatment and has the potential to be used for disease prevention. Over the next five years, global revenue from 3D printing in medical devices is expected to triple, from $0.8 billion in 2015 to $2.4 billion in 2020.
   
   The uptake of innovative treatment technologies, including TAVR and 3D printing, is creating new cardiovascular treatment options and expanding the MedTech CVD market. Providers are interested in—and MedTech companies should develop and offer—a wide spectrum of diagnostic, therapeutic, and monitoring solutions that providers can leverage to manage the patient journey—enabled by the right technology, supported by evidence and a strong value proposition, and available at the right time.
3. Growing digital solutions adoption
   
   There is emerging evidence that some CVD programs built around digital solutions have resulted in benefits to both patients and providers. For the patient, digital health interventions can reduce the number of physician visits since devices can gather data via remote connectivity. From the provider perspective, digital solutions can serve as clinical–decision support tools for providers inputting patient data to generate treatment recommendations. Additionally, there could be opportunities for significant in–hospital cost savings when providers leverage digital technologies.
4. Changing MedTech competitive landscape
   
   As technologies to treat cardiovascular disease continued to advance from 2010 to 2015, the top five global CVD players' rankings shifted and their combined market share dropped five market share points, from 65 percent of a $36 billion global market to 60 percent of a $42 billion global market. And even though incumbents continue to own the market for traditional CVD products, the share of “others,” which includes new entrants, has been slowly growing.
   
   The CVD MedTech market is becoming ever more competitive as established players increasingly compete with new entrants to provide innovative treatment solutions. MedTech organizations should assess how best to incorporate innovative offerings via a range of collaborations, investments, and/or acquisitions.
5. Evolving provider and care delivery shifts
   
   The profile of a typical cardiovascular provider is changing, the result of physicians increasingly switching from private practice to employment in provider networks, an aging workforce, and the impact of new care delivery standards on clinicians' traditional roles.
   
   Cardiovascular physicians are leaving private practice and joining provider networks, with about 30 percent of private practice physicians opting to merge with a hospital where they are incentivized to provide good care, driving higher–quality outcomes. Additionally, cardiovascular care increasingly is being provided by non–cardiologists. This trend includes shifting certain treatment activities, including prescription writing, from physicians to nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs)—and the scope of allowed activities is growing. CV companies exploring their commercialization strategies should consider both the cardiologist and other providers engaged in patient care (e.g. NPs and PAs), whether for diagnosis, treatment, or high–risk care management.​

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Getting to the heart of new market realities

As CVD MedTech companies grapple with new market realities, expectations, and success measures, leadership teams seeking a competitive advantage should begin by addressing the following questions:

• Given your existing solutions portfolio, should your organization adopt a mindset of incremental or transformational change?
• Where are the new business opportunities, and what role do you want to play in transforming care delivery models in cardiovascular? What will be your basis of competition in this new reality?
• To what extent do you need to rethink your go–to–market model and customer engagement mechanisms as the cardiovascular market shifts?
• How will your product development approach be impacted by this new reality? Are there alternative models or external collaborations to consider?
• What is the end–to–end "readiness" view of your organization so you don't just survive, but thrive, in this new reality?
• How should you align and adapt your corporate culture to better prepare for a CVD future that may look very different than today's?
• Developing and implementing strategies to address each of these focus areas can help MedTech organizations get to the heart of changes taking place in the CVD ecosystem; engage with patients, providers, payers, emerging competitors, and other stakeholders; and position themselves for competitive advantage.

To learn more about the new realities and expectations facing MedTech companies and the changing CVD market, download the full report.​

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