2021 HEALTHCARE PRODUCT HALL OF FAME
10 headline integral, pivotal products needed, used in healthcare delivery
by Rick Dana Barlow I
f the United States of America indeed represents the highest-quality healthcare provider in the world with the most advanced products, techniques and tech- nologies then its healthcare practitioners and citizens are spoiled. Clinicians are conditioned to grab a read- ily available device or tool when a patient describes some kind of ailment or malady. Generally, the exam requires the collec- tion of various vital signs, made easier by these tools.
But what if they didn’t have these tools? Some go back less than 100 years. Others for centuries. Clearly, it can be easy to take them for granted.
This is part of the reason why Healthcare Purchasing News launched its Healthcare Product Hall of Fame and Healthcare Prod- uct All-Stars features last year. Without these devices, products and tools – from the most basic and rudimentary to the most advanced and scientifically challenging – we likely would be experiencing much higher mortality rates, much lower popu- lation growth and perhaps less resource consumption and wastage.
For this follow-up feature, the themes seemed to center on accessibility and con- venience with an emphasis on personal healthcare through vital signs tracking and visualization as well as supply tracking and visualization, and ways to support opera- tions through crises and disasters. Without further delay, here are the 10
members of HPN’s Healthcare Product Hall of Fame Class of 2021.
Blood pressure cuf f
KEY SUPPLIERS: ABN, Accoson, ADC, Advocate, AMG Medical, Amydi-Med, Aspel, W.A. Baum Co. Inc., Berry, BioMedi- cal Technologies, Bionics, Bosch + Sohn, BPLab, B.Well, DDM, Diagnosis, Easy@ Home, ERKA, FDK, GBUK Group, GE Healthcare, Hartmann, iHealth, Kenz, Life- Source, Luxamed, MDF, Med Accessories, Medke, MedLinket, Microlife, MIPM, Nihon Kohden, Omron, Orantech, Pedia Pals, Pro- act, ProMed, Pronk Technologies, Riester, SECA, SinMed, Solaris, SunTech Medical, Technicuff, Unimed, UpnMed, Withings, ZellaMed Instrumente
WHY IT MATTERS: When you walk into
your doctors offi ce for a routine health checkup you can expect the nurse to take your temperature, check your height and weight and one more necessary vital sign before the physician ever walks into the exam room – your blood pressure. Equipped with all of this data, the physician then can dive a bit deeper into your physiol- ogy. Taking your blood pressure, however, can alert the doctor about a variety of issues, including whether you’re suffering from internal pain and/or stress or may have arterial and blood vessel blockages hamper- ing blood ow to the heart, which can cause serious damage to the aorta. Readings also can assist in determining whether medica- tions might be needed or whether current medications being taken actually are work- ing as they should. With the pandemic motivating height-
ened interest in telemedicine, you have more opportunity than ever before to invest in your own blood pressure cuff via local retail outlet or online exchange.
Hearing aid
KEY SUPPLIERS: Audio Controle, Audious, Bernafon, Coselgi, Demant (includes Oti- con), Eargo, Electone, Elkon, Entifi c, General Hearing Instruments, GN ReSound (includes Beltone), Hansaton, HueHearing, Interton, Lyric, Magnatone, Micro-Tech, Miracle-Ear, Puretone, Rexton, Rion, Signia, Sivantos (includes Siemens), SONIC Innovations, Sonova (includes Phonak), Sonovation, Star- key Laboratories, United Hearing Systems, Unitron Hearing, Widex, WonderEar
WHY IT MATTERS: Battery-powered or electronic hearing aids, by and large, come in four types, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. he fi rst type is called n-the-
34 December 2021 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS •
hpnonline.com
ear (E) hearing aids. hey come in cases that fi t in the outer ear and generally are used for mild to severe hearing loss.” The second type is called ehind-the-ear (E) hearing aids. Worn behind the ear, they also come in a case that connects to a plastic ear mold inside the outer ear. They also generally are used for mild-to-severe hearing loss.” The third type, as noted by ohns opkins Medicine, is called Canal aids. hey fi t directly in the ear and come in two sies in-the-canal (C) aid and completely-in-canal (CC) aid. hey are customied to fi t the sie and shape of a person’s ear canal and generally are used for mild-to-moderate hearing loss.” The fourth type, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, is called ody aids. hey gener- ally are reserved for profound hearing loss that other types will not accommodate and are attached to a belt or pocket, connected to the ear with a wire.” All are designed to convert sound waves to electrical signals.
Artifi cial heart
KEY SUPPLIERS: BiVACOR, CARMAT, SynCardia Systems LLC, but if you loosen the defi nition to include Ventricular-Assist Devices (VAD), you can add CarWave, Medtronic, Tandem Life, Thoratec
WHY IT MATTERS: Depending on what’s wrong with your heart, if defi brillation, drugs or stenting don’t solve the under- lying problem, all that’s left is an organ transplant. Access to donor organs – par- ticularly the heart can be diffi cult and potentially a long wait. While doctors try to prolong a person’s life as much as possible through medications as he or she awaits a replacement heart, they were provided another option that can be traced in part back to the s and s n artifi cial (mechanical) heart. he fi rst to receive a patent for a human artifi cial heart were Paul Winchell and Henry Heimlich (he of the famous maneuver conceived in the mid-s used to prevent choking). Oth- ers would research and develop their own versions, the most famous of which was designed by a team headlined by Robert Jarvik that was implanted in a patient in 1982. This mechanical device originally
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