Wednesday, April 24

Hospitals taking steps to reduce medical device rep access

Hospitals first restricted the access of pharmaceutical and biotech sales representatives. Now, hospitals are beginning to restrict access of medical device representatives into the operating room. Here are six steps that have been taken to limit medical device rep access in hospitals.

1) Appointment required to gain access

75% of US hospitals require an appointment for a medical device rep to enter the hospital. Physicians now have to plan ahead to ensure their local medical device rep is available, and then ensure the rep has the appropriate hospital approval for access to the operating room.

2) Limited to interactions with purchasing department

53% of US hospitals only al …

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Monday, February 25

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Five opportunities to improve the medical device sales and support model

1) Physicians have challenges identifying new devices and device protocols in real-time.

“I don’t even know what new devices are available.”

  • Potential Result: Suboptimal device may be used and/or improper use of appropriate device.
  • Potential Impact: Compromised patient care.
  • Suggestion: Consider providing device-specific information all in a single, easy to access location for physicians.

2) Scheduling cases can be challenging as cases may occur earlier/later than planned. Trauma case …

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Friday, January 25

4 Reasons Why NOT to use Skype (or FaceTime)

A lot of people ask us “Why not just Skype”? There are countless reasons why, but we felt it would be valuable to sum up four of the main reasons.

  1. Poor Security:
    • Not HIPAA-compliant: Skype doesn’t meet federal requirements for protecting sensitive healthcare data.
    • Risk of losing or abusing patient data: Skype is a hacker’s delight.
    • Unsafe: More spyware infect computers through Skype than any other way with the exception of music file-sharing.
    • Risk of impersonation: No guarantee on Skype that the person you’re speaking to is who they say they are.
  2. Not a Closed Communit …

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Tuesday, January 15

Nurep joins Blueprint Health winter 2013 class

Today, we are excited to announce that we have joined the Blueprint Health winter 2013 class. It is an honor to become part of the Blueprint Health family, which has the largest network of mentors with healthcare experience of any accelerator. Blueprint Health is also a charter member of the Global Accelerator Network, which was started by TechStars. You can see the official press release in TechCrunch.

Here are a few (of many) reasons why we are excited about Blueprint Health:

Friday, December 21

Mobile medical apps & FDA regulation

Over the last six years, there has been significant growth in the health technology sector (e.g. mobile medical apps), driven by advances in technology and an increase in venture capital (VC) funding. VCs have been lured into the space due to the perception of high returns on investment within shorter timeframes versus their traditional life science funds. The significant growth in this market has driven the need for increased scrutiny from the FDA in how these products should be regulated.

The FDA has the authority to regulate software if it falls within the broad definition of a “device”. It has further segment …

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Monday, December 10

Role of a Medical Devices Sales Representative

With the complexity and rapidly changing protocols of medical devices, the individuals who sell devices such as pacemakers, hip replacements, spine screws have become critical to supporting surgeons in the operating room (OR). Medical device sales reps work with surgeons
and their care teams, providing recommendations on how to use their devices and guidance in the OR.

For example, an orthopedic device sales rep will join the surgeon in the OR, study x-rays alongside the surgeon and assist the surgeon with …

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Tuesday, November 13

WebRTC: A paradigm shift in online communication

A huge leap in innovation is upon us that will ultimately allow for enhanced, seamless communication across all mobile devices. WebRTC (Web Real Time Communications) is on the bleeding edge of how we will communicate with each other online. Simply put, WebRTC brings VOIP, video chat, and file sharing to your native web browser. This technology has a multitude of promising applications, one of which is the ability to change the game in the area of video calling.

So what is different about WebRTC?

The fundamental difference is that no plug-in is required. Video platforms built off Adobe Flash have numerous technical drawbacks, one of which is their incompatibility with touch-based < …

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Tuesday, October 30

Mobile technology and advances in medicine

Dr. Edward Bender (advisor and investor in Nurep) was recently interviewed on how technology plays a critical role in advancing medicine. As a dual threat, Dr. Bender is both a thought leader in cardiac surgery and medical app development, creating more than 20 iOS apps for cardiac surgery.

What is interesting about his interview is the topic of digital health technology in terms of cost and efficiency. Technology in healthcare can have tremendous benefits, so long as the benefits outweigh the costs. Expensive technology that has significant infrastructure and costs associated with it can be more burdensome than it is beneficial.

More specifically, hospitals are facing cost pressures from the American Medical Ass …

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