The New Battleground For Medical Device Retail Is Rural America

Mammoth retailers like Amazon, Walgreens, and even Dollar General, a trusted low-price brand in rural America, are competing for a bite of the healthcare apple, and are reported to be investing billions of dollars and creating significant expansion plans. Their goal: become dominant players in urban areas where they have a dominant footprint and the new battleground; rural America. In a report from Cain, approximately 15% of US patients live in rural areas. Many are at higher risk for cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic respiratory issues and unintentional injuries than metropolitan patients, according to the CDC. Patients in outside of urban areas are also typically older, sicker and more apt to be lower income.

What Happens to Medtech when Physician Specialties Consolidate?

Hospitals, payers, and PE firms have been vying over the past decade to acquire independent physician groups, and COVID accelerated consolidation among physician specialties. Data reported in Cain Brothers Industry Insights¹ shows that 75% of physicians are employed by a larger entity (i.e., nonphysician owned). The hospital and independent segments are self-explanatory but the corporate segment is mix of PE firms, payers, and non provider groups that all want a bite of the healthcare apple.

Superior medtech commercial strategies disrupt the current state of affairs

There was a lot to learn at AdvaMed, and the CEOs Unplugged panels did not disappoint. The US President of Siemens Healthineers, David Pacitti, talked about how COVID pushed them to new strategies where Siemens Healthineers is working with the hospital C-Suite to sell medical imaging equipment such as fluoroscopy equipment, MRI, X-ray, ultrasound and CT scanners. The Siemens Healthineers 10-year plan focuses “less on the box,” the big iron, and more on the customer journey.