It’s difficult still to strike the right balance when it comes to sales prospecting -- your salespeople have limited time and energy, but cold, informal, or spammy calls and emails are going to have limited returns. Especially if your market is limited, “sending more emails” isn’t always a viable option. So what can you do to make sure that your emails to physicians and hospitals are getting better returns without forcing your salespeople to meticulously craft a message for every individual contact?

That’s where templates can be useful. These allow you to personalize your message without having to start from scratch, and can help reduce the legwork for your team. None of these are replacement for research and best practices, and should be used carefully, but can greatly improve the effectiveness of your cold emails and reduce the burden on your workforce.

​With the ultimate goal of transparency, the U.S. enacted the Physician Payments Sunshine Act to shed light on financial relationships between medical device, supply, biologic, and pharmaceutical manufacturers and physicians. The act, passed into law in 2010 and enforced since April 9, 2013, requires reporting on any payments to physicians or to a third-party that they request. It also requires that manufacturers report any financial interest that physicians or their family members have in their companies.

2019 is shaping up to be an incredible year in healthcare. From IT and AI innovations, to advancements in 3D printing technology, this year is also proving to be beneficial for patients dealing with everything from pain management and acute stroke intervention to immunotherapy for cancer treatment and RNA-based therapies

Behind all of these achievements are people supporting the research and its’ implementation. We often appreciate all of the medical providers that strive towards successful patient outcomes by advancing research and technology. However, we sometimes forget about the hospital CEOs that support healthcare innovations. There are several hospital CEOs that should be closely watched in 2019.

Healthcare is one of the hottest topics as presidential hopefuls gear up for the next election. Candidates vying for the Democratic nomination have introduced or thrown their support behind one of at least 10 bills outlining proposed public healthcare programs, such as new plans to provide coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace or Medicare buy-in options for people that aren’t eligible under the current program. Perhaps the most talked-about concept, however, is Medicare for All, the single-payer federal program that would replace private insurance and provide healthcare coverage to all U.S. residents. 

​Though healthcare can sometimes lag behind other industries in innovation, there are certainly aspects of medical technology that are moving at top speed. The headlines are full of breathless reports about advancements in healthcare that did not even seem possible a few years ago. 

Healthcare trends in 2019 that are of particular interest are artificial intelligence, virtual patient services, blockchain innovations, mergers and acquisitions, and 3D printing. These technologies and innovations hone in on the patient experience by allowing medical care and prevention to be experienced individually. Affordability is at the heart of innovation too, which is why these five healthcare trends are worth a deeper review.

​At the national Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference held earlier this year in Orlando, we had the opportunity to hear a presentation by two hospital executives who lead capital planning and procurement teams.
 
The presenters included:

• Chris Gutmann,  ITS Director of Clinical Engineering at Yale New Haven Health
• Ilir Kullolli, Clinical Technology Bio-Engineering (CTBE) Director at Stanford Childrens' Health

​Last July, we published a blog on Mapping the Medical Sales Cycle, and a key part of the medical sales process includes understanding the steps involved in hospital procurement. The end goal for selling your medical technology very likely has important implications for physician and patient satisfaction (as well as clinical outcomes). However, the new reality is that buyers of your medical technology also need to understand the financial impact. 

The hospital procurement process is integral to whether a sales rep sells a product or sits on unsold inventory. By learning more about hospital procurement, the overall medical sales cycle can be navigated with significantly less friction.