• Login
    • Join
  • FOLLOW:
  • Subscribe Free
    • Magazine
    • eNewsletter
    Checkout
    • Magazine
    • News
    • Opinions
    • Top 30
    • Research
    • Supply Chain
    • Device Sectors
    • Directory
    • Events
    • Resources
    • Microsites
    • More
  • Magazine
  • News
  • Opinions
  • Top 30
  • Research
  • Supply Chain
  • Device Sectors
  • Directory
  • Events
  • Resources
  • Microsites
  • Current / Back Issues
    Features
    Editorial
    Digital Edition
    eNewsletter Archive
    Our Team
    Editorial Guidelines
    Reprints
    Subscribe Now
    Advertise Now
    Top Features
    Deep (Brain) Thoughts with Medtronic's Neuromodulation President

    Grab and Go: Examining the Thrombectomy Device Market

    Fine Print: A Discourse on Additive Manufacturing

    MPO's 2022 Medtech Industry Year in Review

    Micro Molding for Medtech Is Miniature Magic
    OEM News
    Supplier News
    Service / Press Releases
    Online Exclusives
    Press Releases
    People in the News
    Product & Service Releases
    Supplier News
    Medtech Makers
    Technical Features
    International News
    Videos
    Product & Service Releases
    Live From Shows
    Regulatory
    Financial/Business
    Top News
    MICRO's Costa Rica Facility Achieves ISO 13485:2016 Certification

    FDA Clears SafeSource Direct's Nitrile Exam Gloves

    Baxter, Miromatrix Team Up for Bioengineered Liver

    BlackHägen Design Members Named as Contributing Inventors in Bayer Patent

    The Producto Group Appoints Mark C. Rauenzahn as Chief Executive Officer
    From the Editor
    Blogs
    Guest Opinions
    Top Opinions
    Deep (Brain) Thoughts with Medtronic's Neuromodulation President

    Grab and Go: Examining the Thrombectomy Device Market

    Fine Print: A Discourse on Additive Manufacturing

    MPO's 2022 Medtech Industry Year in Review

    Micro Molding for Medtech Is Miniature Magic
    Top 30 Medical Device Companies
    Market Data
    White Papers
    Top Research
    Reflections on 2022 and What’s Ahead for Medtech: MPO Sounding Board

    3 Ways to Prepare for ISO 13485/Part 820 Harmonization

    A New Home for Theranos' Elizabeth Holmes?

    Health Cost Drivers for Large Employers

    Braving Change: Facing Fears in the Midst of Major Transitions
    3D/Additive Manufacturing
    Contract Manufacturing
    Electronics
    Machining & Laser Processing
    Materials
    Molding
    Packaging & Sterilization
    R&D & Design
    Software & IT
    Testing
    Tubing & Extrusion
    Cardiovascular
    Diagnostics
    Digital Health
    Neurological
    Patient Monitoring
    Surgical
    Orthopedics
    All Companies
    Categories
    Company Capabilities
    Add New Company
    Outsourcing Directory
    Fusion Biotec Inc.

    Halkey-Roberts Corporation

    Medbio LLC

    NDH Medical Inc.

    Paragon Medical
    MPO Summit
    Industry Events
    Webinars
    Live From Show Event
    Industry Associations
    Videos
    Career Central
    eBook
    Slideshows
    Top Resources
    How Artificial Intelligence Can Combat Key Issues Impacting Healthcare

    Why Advanced Sensors Are Crucial Within Medical Pumps

    How Artificial Intelligence Could Help Prevent 80% of Chronic Diseases

    4 Ways to Use Injection Molding in Medical Device Manufacturing

    Telemedicine and Connectivity to Drive Material Innovation in the Near Future
    Companies
    News Releases
    Product Releases
    Press Releases
    Product Spec Sheets
    Service Releases
    Case Studies
    White Papers
    Brochures
    Videos
    Outsourcing Directory
    Fusion Biotec Inc.

    Halkey-Roberts Corporation

    Medbio LLC

    NDH Medical Inc.

    Paragon Medical
    • Magazine
      • Current/Back Issues
      • Features
      • Editorial
      • Columns
      • Digital Editions
      • Subscribe Now
      • Advertise Now
    • News
    • Directory
      • All Companies
      • ALL CATEGORIES
      • Industry Associations
      • Company Capabilities
      • Add Your Company
    • Supply Chain
      • 3D/Additive Manufacturing
      • Contract Manufacturing
      • Electronics
      • Machining & Laser Processing
      • Materials
      • Molding
      • Packaging & Sterilization
      • R&D & Design
      • Software & IT
      • Testing
      • Tubing & Extrusion
    • Device Sectors
      • Cardiovascular
      • Diagnostics
      • Digital Health
      • Neurological
      • Patient Monitoring
      • Surgical
      • Orthopedics
    • Top 30 Company Report
    • Expert Insights
    • Slideshows
    • Videos
    • eBook
    • Resources
    • Podcasts
    • Infographics
    • Whitepapers
    • Research
      • White Papers
      • Case Studies
      • Product Spec Sheets
      • Market Data
    • MPO Summit
    • Events
      • Industry Events
      • Live From Show Events
      • Webinars
    • Microsite
      • Companies
      • Product Releases
      • Product Spec Sheets
      • Services
      • White Papers / Tech Papers
      • Press Releases
      • Videos
      • Literature / Brochures
      • Case Studies
    • About Us
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise with Us
      • eNewsletter Archive
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms of Use
    Columns

    Speed Up or Risk Stepping Down: The New Reality of the Connected Healthcare Development Cycle

    Digital health and connected devices are an extraordinary new tool for delivering on improving patient outcomes.

    Speed Up or Risk Stepping Down: The New Reality of the Connected Healthcare Development Cycle
    Joe McBeth, VP Global Supply Chain, Jabil Healthcare01.29.20
    This is a very exciting time to be in healthcare, as technology and digital healthcare capabilities continue to transform the industry. Connected health devices—things that can track patient compliance or provide insights on how well a drug is being metabolized or provide monitoring of a patient’s biomarkers—are opening up tremendous opportunities for future product iterations, as well as disease-state product platforms. In a 2018 survey—Connected Health Technology Trends1—Jabil canvassed more than 200 healthcare decision makers and determined that all of them had plans to develop and bring to market a connected health device. The medical industry has one primary goal: improve patient outcomes. Digital health and connected devices are an extraordinary new tool for delivering on this objective.

    The Jabil survey responses demonstrate confidence that healthcare is shifting from being primarily reactive to becoming more proactive, preventative, and patient-focused. The Internet of Things (IoT), long a “hot” trend across other industries, is now impacting healthcare, with almost three out of four healthcare executives predicting Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) healthcare devices will be disruptive to product lifecycles within three years. According to Deloitte, remote patient monitoring, enabled by connected health technology, will result in healthcare being able to reach more people and with greater ease, increasing value- over volume-based care, and empowering patients to take better control of their lives, thereby improving quality of life.2

    Sounds like a market with vast potential and a healthy level of buy-in from key decision makers, right? There are, however, real challenges to the production of connected healthcare solutions. Historically, due largely to a sometimes burdensome and lengthy product development cycle, healthcare lags behind other connected industries.

    Let’s break down that product development cycle—by the numbers—based on survey responses:
    • Almost half reported their connected healthcare product development cycles range from 18 to 36 months.
    • Within that cycle, it was larger companies that were particularly hard-pressed to complete a cycle in a year or less.
    • Only 2 percent of larger companies (more than 5,000 employees) reported that 12 months was an adequate time frame for completing a product development cycle—compared to 15 percent of smaller companies (1,000 to 5,000 employees).
    Part of the urgency to speed up the product development cycle stems from the expectations set by the rapidly iterative cycles that have become the norm in consumer electronics. The public receives shiny new communications devices with great fanfare year over year; it’s no wonder they expect healthcare to keep up.

    What’s a healthcare manufacturer to do? A good place to start is to examine the most significant factors currently slowing down the product development cycle, then determine what measures can be taken to meet those challenges.

    Healthcare Product Development Cycle: The Delays
    Healthcare solutions are, by their nature, held to a higher standard than, say, consumer electronics; a smartphone software glitch doesn’t carry the life or death consequences an inaccurate diagnosis or poor treatment method might. It follows that, overall, the healthcare industry is more risk-averse, which can lead to hesitancy when undertaking a culture-shifting acceleration of a company’s production cycles. Unlike other connected solutions, such as in the home or building industries, for example, which can be experimented with and adjusted to some degree, connected healthcare has no margin for error. Rather, it is required out of the gate to be as calculated and precise as possible.

    The worst-case result of an inefficient, slow-moving product development cycle is that product does not reach the market. I have seen companies abandon healthcare projects more frequently than consumer electronics due to concerns over the intense focus on technology and feasibility studies, as well as human factors. According to the survey, one in five companies that produced a healthcare solution that solved technology, production, and compliance issues had to retract it.

    Ninety-five percent of survey respondents admitted to facing manufacturing challenges, although only 17 percent of participants deemed manufacturing problems as the most daunting challenge in developing their connected health solutions. The top manufacturing challenges shared were high manufacturing costs, a lack of sufficiently sophisticated enabling technologies, and sourcing issues, driven by the often-volatile electronic components market.

    Component shortages present as significant a challenge to connected healthcare as they do to other connected industries; one in four survey respondents cite this as a major handicap of concern. Lead times of 500 days to obtain components such as capacitators and resistors create barriers for in-production devices, as well as for new designs utilizing legacy components. Cost becomes a real factor, as the product development cycle will become more expensive the longer production is held up, sometimes simply for lack of a 15-cent part. A vicious cycle is created, in which component shortages delay a new product launch to market, which in turn discourages the manufacturer from future investment in new product launches.

    Consider another “by the numbers” perspective; based on survey responses:
    • Only 3 percent of companies have reached the certification stage of their connected devices’ product development cycle…
    • ...while 13 percent have reached testing.
    • Only 16 percent have successfully launched a complete product.
    • Overall, 60 percent of companies have not yet delivered a connected healthcare product at all or are still in early testing of a prototype.

    Why? Certainly, we can infer impact from all the issues already discussed. But these numbers speak somewhat more directly to momentum. There are measures manufacturers can initiate to gain traction with their connected healthcare product development process and help make it more efficient and effective.

    Smooth the Way with the FDA
    One way to shorten the connected healthcare product lifecycle is to look at working with government agencies [e.g., the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)], as leveraging a resource rather than as another delay to market launch. Consulting the FDA is a given for most U.S. healthcare manufacturers—more than 60 percent of survey participants said they produce healthcare solutions that require FDA approval. Early engagement with government agencies, working with them to identify risks and concerns, then addressing these early in the development lifecycle, can go a long way toward acceleration of the regulatory approval process for connected devices.

    Realize the Potential of Partners
    Establishing a partnership can be an effective measure for a company to gain a new area of expertise and push its connected health solutions forward. Among survey respondents, manufacturing companies with prior expertise in connected devices were perceived to offer the most potential benefit. Next in line, at 63 percent, were technology partners with cloud and data privacy expertise. Nearly half of survey respondents saw the value of partners with expertise in government processes who can assist in cutting through confusing, lengthy regulatory processes.

    Conclusion
    The lag in connected healthcare is understandable; as noted earlier, people’s lives may depend on this technology. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep pushing to make the process smoother to get more connected healthcare devices into the market. The potential benefits to patients are too great; connected healthcare can allow doctors to monitor their patients remotely, detect symptoms of illness or medical conditions before they become serious (through predictive analytics), and give patients more control over their own health.

    Rather than asking, “Can we afford the risk of pushing innovative healthcare solutions?” I urge manufacturers to ask, “Can we afford the risk of NOT offering innovative connected health solutions?” Speeding up the healthcare product development cycle is a good place to start in improving, and potentially even saving, millions of lives. 

    References
    1. http://bit.ly/mpo200190
    2. http://bit.ly/mpo200191

    As VP of global supply chain management for Jabil Healthcare, Joe McBeth oversees the Jabil division’s supply chain operations, including inventory control, strategic sourcing, supplier development, and supply chain creation. An enthusiastic challenger of assumptions, McBeth has proven to be exceptionally adept at managing the complexities of supply chain management, providing Jabil clients with the insight and guidance required to navigate the lightning-fast market changes, unpredictable resources, and sometimes baffling compliance and regulatory requirements of today’s healthcare market. Prior to his current role, McBeth helped build the broader global supply chain organization within Jabil, overhauling a previously decentralized organization into a highly efficient, regionally based, global program. His ongoing input and direction has been integral to the development of Jabil’s InControl platform, the company’s state-of-the-art supply chain decision support solution. McBeth began his career with Jabil in 1993 as a manufacturing supervisor. In addition to earning his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University, McBeth graduated with an MBA in Materials Logistics Management from MSU’s Eli Broad College of Business. 
    Related Searches
    • consumer
    • regulatory
    • patient
    • compliance
    Related Knowledge Center
    • R&D & Design
    • Digital Health
      Loading, Please Wait..

      Trending
      • The Future Of Biomedical Engineering Advancements
      • Cirtec Medical Corporation Acquires Precision Components Business From QMD
      • Medtronic's Recall Of Mahurkar Catheters Is Class I
      • Coloplast Launches New Catheter In The U.S.
      • FDA Clears LiveMetric's Wearable Blood Pressure Monitoring Tech
      Breaking News
      • Japanese Universities Start Joint Trials for Fall Detection Tech
      • FDA Clears H2o Therapeutics' Parkinson's Disease Monitoring App
      • MICRO's Costa Rica Facility Achieves ISO 13485:2016 Certification
      • FDA Clears SafeSource Direct's Nitrile Exam Gloves
      • Baxter, Miromatrix Team Up for Bioengineered Liver
      View Breaking News >
      CURRENT ISSUE

      November 2022

      • MPO's 2022 Year in Review
      • Fine Print: A Discourse on Additive Manufacturing
      • Grab and Go: Examining the Thrombectomy Device Market
      • View More >

      Cookies help us to provide you with an excellent service. By using our website, you declare yourself in agreement with our use of cookies.
      You can obtain detailed information about the use of cookies on our website by clicking on "More information”.

      • About Us
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms And Conditions
      • Contact Us

      follow us

      Subscribe
      Nutraceuticals World

      Latest Breaking News From Nutraceuticals World

      Pycnogenol Supplementation Linked to Hair Density in Menopausal Women
      BAPP Paper Reviews Common Adulteration Practices Which Go Undetected
      CRN Announces Promotions and Welcomes New Staff Member
      Coatings World

      Latest Breaking News From Coatings World

      ROSS Offers Heavy-Duty Three Roll Mills for High Viscosity Dispersions
      PPG Achieves ISO 14001 Certification of Environmental Management System
      AmCoat’s Rhino Shield and Floor Shield Break Records in 2022
      Medical Product Outsourcing

      Latest Breaking News From Medical Product Outsourcing

      MICRO's Costa Rica Facility Achieves ISO 13485:2016 Certification
      FDA Clears SafeSource Direct's Nitrile Exam Gloves
      Baxter, Miromatrix Team Up for Bioengineered Liver
      Contract Pharma

      Latest Breaking News From Contract Pharma

      HPNE Launches New Approach to Single-Use Assembly Production
      Andelyn Biosciences, Odylia Therapeutics Partner to Manufacture Gene Therapy for Vision Loss
      Lonza Breaks Ground on Commercial Drug Product Facility in Stein
      Beauty Packaging

      Latest Breaking News From Beauty Packaging

      L’Oréal Group Recognized by Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index 2023
      Unilever Ventures Invests in Aussie Scalp Care Brand Straand
      La Roche-Posay Named the Fastest Growing Skincare Brand of 2022 by NielsenIQ
      Happi

      Latest Breaking News From Happi

      Perfect Corp Partners with Beekman 1802 for New My Skin Biome Tool
      OPI’s Nature Strong Introduces Botanical Base Coat and New Colors
      Inclusive Hair Brand Hairitage Launches New Anti-Dandruff Collection at Walmart
      Ink World

      Latest Breaking News From Ink World

      C3Nano Offers New SuperGrid Flexible Low-Temperature Ink
      ROSS Develops Heavy-Duty Three Roll Mills for High Viscosity Dispersions
      Alexander's Adds Two New HP Indigo 100K Digital Presses to Fleet
      Label & Narrow Web

      Latest Breaking News From Label & Narrow Web

      Baker Labels invests in Digicon 3000 for flexible packaging division
      PIM promotes Kristin Pilling-Davis to executive director
      Stratus Packaging embraces automation with Bobst
      Nonwovens Industry

      Latest Breaking News From Nonwovens Industry

      WPT Nonwovens to Add Thermobonding Line in Kentucky
      Superior Felt & Filtration Adds Domestic Injection Molding to its Medical Filtration Capabilities
      Ahlstrom Launches New Generation FluoroFree Technology
      Orthopedic Design & Technology

      Latest Breaking News From Orthopedic Design & Technology

      Solid Growth Ahead for Orthopedic Power Tools Market
      Mobi-C Cervical Disc Replacement Procedures Top 200,000
      OPUM, Corflex Global Partner on Knee Assessment Technology
      Printed Electronics Now

      Latest Breaking News From Printed Electronics Now

      Alexander Everke Hands Over ams OSRAM CEO Position to Aldo Kamper
      Angèle Reinders Named New Director of Solliance
      C3Nano Launches New SuperGrid Flexible Low-Temperature Ink

      Copyright © 2023 Rodman Media. All rights reserved. Use of this constitutes acceptance of our privacy policy The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Rodman Media.

      AD BLOCKER DETECTED

      Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
      Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.


      FREE SUBSCRIPTION Already a subscriber? Login