22.11.2005 - 23/05

Berlin/Germany. Hospital purchasing co-operatives are continuing to gain influence. The proportion of hospital turnover linked to purchasing cooperatives will rise from today’s figure of 45 per cent to 90 per cent in 2010. This is a results of a recent study, commissioned by the German medical technology association BVMed, from the consultancy firm Simon Kucher & Partners, entitled: “Future Relevance and Consequences of Hospital Purchasing Cooperatives for Medical Technology Suppliers in Germany”.

The bundling together of hospitals’ purchasing power is resulting in continuous pressure on prices, which presents new challenges for the sales and marketing activities of medical devices manufacturers. Between 2002 and 2005, the net prices of medical devices in hospitals have fallen by an average of 10 per cent, whereas pharmaceuticals have witnessed a slight rise in net prices.

The consultants draw attention to the “responsibility for prices” of the entire medical technology sector. They say that competition should concentrate on the product and service elements and not on prices. The customer landscape for companies will be influenced in the future by large, commercially-experienced and authoritative purchasing co-operatives and competition-oriented individual houses.

The study should on the one hand highlight a mid-term development trend in the German hospital procurement sector, and on the other offer strategic recommendations for actions needed to be taken by providers so that they can appropriately react to changes in the market.

The study: “Future Relevance and Consequences of Hospital Purchasing Cooperatives for Medical Technology Suppliers in Germany” may be downloaded from BVMed’s website in German and English at: http://www.bvmed.de/publikationen/Studien/?language=2. 

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