Market Potential Research for Medical Devices Sold in Australia
The Australian healthcare is a hybrid model with often unclear responsibilities for care and funding models. For instance, the management of public hospitals is the domain of each of the State Governments and the operation of hospitals is funded from State budgets, whereas the primary healthcare is funded principally by the Federal Government.
Reimbursement is the domain of the Federal Government which publishes the Prosthesis Benefits Schedule which sets the reimbursement levels for devices used in private hospitals, however, in public hospitals many devices are funded from overall hospital or department budget allocations.
While there are many similarities, each State has somewhat different approach to running their health system, partly because of political differences but also demographic differences (e.g. the population of Tasmania is less than half a million and relatively static, whereas that of New South Wales is nearly 7 million with two thirds living in the greater Sydney area). In New South Wales several public hospitals are grouped into Regional Area Health Services which have their budgets allocated by the NSW Government.
Often problems arise where the system does not operate as effectively as it should. This has been recognized by all arms of the Government and the medical professions and detailed proposal for Healthcare Reform is being considered by the Federal Government.
Australia advocates free trade and has been negotiating free trade agreements with its main trading partners. Other than regulatory requirements there are very few other barriers for medical technologies to be imported into Australia. In recent years there has been an increased emphasis on facilitating clinical trials of medical devices and a number of companies have used this as a market entry strategy due to the high adoption of new technologies and some of the world's best clinical practice and facilities.
Therefore, before entering the Australian market, it is important to appreciate the geographic and demographic issues and make an assessment as to whether products should be distributed nationally or regionally and which distributors have strengths in the product area of interest.
A well executed analysis of the market can yield valuable information on competing products already for sale in the region, competitor pricing, market opportunities, sales channel strategy, reimbursement levels and more. When we perform country analyses, we gather high quality information by interviewing local end users, distributors, and industry or product specialists in addition to desktop research.
On average it takes four to six weeks to complete a detailed country analysis. Note that this service is optional and not necessary if you have a good understanding of the potential for your medical device(s) in the Australian market and are able to provide us with a clear medical distributor profile.
Our Australian services are performed for a fixed fee per day or on an hourly basis depending on the scope of the total project. The following issues may need to be researched:
- Competing medical devices or IVDs already for sale in those national markets.
- Regulatory compliance requirements beyond CE Marking, if any.
- Reimbursement assessment
- Ideal medical distributor profile.
- Optimal Australian service and logistics structure
- Opportunities for clinical trialing
This analysis results in a distribution strategy for your medical devices and a substantial initial list of potential partners that match the medical distributor profile.
Please contact us for more information or a free proposal on our market potential research services for Australia.
