ARTICLE SUMMARY:
This discussion with Stanford Biodesign director and co-founder Josh Makower highlights a recent Stanford report that found the median time for initial Medicare coverage of Breakthrough Devices is nearly six years. Here we discuss how this data, much like information from previous Stanford reports, can help drive change at CMS through the current TCET debate.
In a political climate where concepts like fake news and questioning the validity of traditional scientific research and principles have become standard fare among leaders at all levels and wide swaths of the population, the idea of looking to inform and influence public debate through the use of data collected by well-established scientific methods and statistical analysis would seem like it might be at risk of falling out of favor. Today’s tendency toward siloed, echo-chambered debate generates outcomes based on what each respective group wants to hear, rather than what objective data reveals.
In medtech, despite this growing trend, the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign program continues to believe in the value of generating data through traditional survey methodologies and statistical analysis, with the goal that this kind of level playing field data can help best inform the public debate on issues critically important to everyone in the medical device universe–patients, payors, product companies, and providers. Most importantly, reliance on objective data can help ensure that the product innovation pipeline that fuels the entire system continues to function efficiently.
