OrthoConnect brings medical devices and services directly to physicians.
OrthoConnect LLC, the leading online aggregator of orthopedic devices and services, has launched its new concierge website for direct marketing to physicians and hospitals. Medical device and pharmaceutical companies spend over $12 billion a year for direct advertising to physicians, with an estimated $20 billion or more spent to advertise direct to consumers. But with cost concerns growing as pressures on healthcare spending increase, many medical companies are looking for alternative ways to reach out to health care professionals.Dr. Gary Fanton, founder of OrthoConnect and a practicing orthopedic surgeon at Stanford University, has been concerned about the growing separation between healthcare providers and industry news releases regarding new techniques and devices that become available. “The whole evolution of contemporary surgical techniques and minimally invasive surgery has been dependent on the support of large and small medical device companies that provide the technology to make our procedures better for the patient, safer, and easier to perform. Pilots must stay in touch with aerospace manufacturers to help develop better and safer aircraft. The same is true in the operating room!”
Unfortunately, with the rise in healthcare marketing costs and a migration away from print material supported by advertising, there has been an increased focus on web based distribution of news about new product releases, technique modifications, and even product recalls.
“As in any science-based industry, practitioners are looking for the next best thing to provide the most up-to-date care, and so are our patients. The evolution of medical devices and procedures has been quite rapid in recent years, and as physicians we need to keep up not only with clinical and scientific studies, but also newsworthy developments regarding the tools and techniques we use every day.”
Google searches and individual company websites provide a poorly organized and time consuming method of finding out about new industry trends. But industry representatives are also finding it harder to access healthcare providers, hospitals, and surgery centers because of new political conflict of interest concerns and regulatory restrictions. “We need to encourage industry and physician collaboration, but exhibit centers associated with medical meetings are often prohibitively expensive and available only 3 or 4 weeks a year. Many smaller device companies cannot even afford to attend.”
OrthoConnect, which has recently launched it’s newest platform, provides the online venue for people to receive industry news every day, all year long. It allows free access for all healthcare workers and medical device companies to share and discuss product and service trends in orthopedics, sports medicine, and related fields. The company website is www.orthoconnect.com.
