How product development outsourcing can make your medtech amazing

In today’s medical device market, more and more companies are using outsourcing as a product development strategy. 

Stuart Karten, Karten Design

[Image from Unsplash]

There has been a fundamental shift in the way companies develop medtech products because of advances in digital technology, medical industry economics and public policy – such as the Affordable Care Act’s withholding of 1% of a hospitals’ total Medicare reimbursements, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year.  Hospitals must earn the money back each year with high patient satisfaction scores. Medtech products play a significant role in patient satisfaction, for example, so product satisfaction—from clinic to home—plays a large role in a medical device company’s success or failure.  In today’s world, creating an incredible medtech device takes a smart and efficient outsourcing strategy.

My design company works with device, as well as other medical and consumer, companies to help them turn their innovative technology into products that people love. Or, in the case of startups, that VCs want to invest in, or larger conglomerates want to take over. We have been working in the medical device field for more than 33 years, and have created iconic, award-winning products, some of which are even featured in museums.  In the last several years, as medical products have become more consumerized – and a new generation of empowered patients expect products that have awesome design –  device companies have been hiring us as an “outsourced” firm.  We work intimately to tie all of the product development together so the end result becomes something of incredible value.

(See Stuart Karten on Dec. 12 at DeviceTalks West in Orange County, where he will be on a panel, “Tools for Succeeding with Outsourced Product Development.”)

But product development outsourcing is not easy.  Everyone struggles with it.

Every project is unique. We realize bringing disparate teams with different expertise, different time frames, and different end goals can be difficult.

As a design firm that has been a leader in enabling product development, we have four guidelines that we always follow as we prepare and go forth on a project.

Get the full story, along with the four guidelines, on our sister site Medical Design & Outsourcing.

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