Study: Medicare-based device-intensive hospital charges do not result in higher health care cost

Medical devices are not responsible for wide variations in hospital charges among patients with similar admissions, according to a new research report released by the Advanced Medical Technology Association.

“The medical technology value proposition is the best bargain in health care today, with intense competition helping to keep prices low. This new study affirms that medical devices are not driving variations in hospital charges,” Stephen J. Ubl, president and CEO of Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), stated in a press release.

The report was compiled by Christopher Hogan, PhD, president of Direct Research, LLC. In the report, 2012 Medicare claims data from 3,300 hospitals were divided into two groups based on whether admissions were medical device-intensive or non-device-intensive. The medical devices recorded in the study included hip and knee replacements, implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), pacemakers and stents.

In the non-device-intensive group, the charges were 22% higher, according to the report. When accounting for costs rather than charges, the non-device-intensive group had a 40% greater cost when compared to the device-intensive group.

“This study clearly refutes the claims of those who have pointed to medical technology as the root cause of variations in hospital charges,” Ubl said. “The results also dovetail with other recent data showing that devices are not driving health care price increases. In fact, data show that for the last 2 decades medical technology has made up a consistently small and stable 6% of national health expenditures and that medtech prices have risen at less than half the rate of inflation and one-fifth the rate of all other medical products and services.”

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