HBSQuarterly

Within this edition of the HBSQuarterly we have again made considerable effort to provide a series of articles of relevance to a cross section of the medical device and diagnostics markets. Although it is unfair to focus on any one particular article I must highlight Christian Holz’s piece which looks at current and emerging trends in the hospital IT market with particular reference to the move to IT integration. Through a primary research process more than 1000 IT experts within European hospitals were interviewed to gather their views on how spending on IT systems within the hospital is and will be structured over the next 5 years. While nearly each and every article on this topic (outside of the Quarterly) relies upon reporting how the healthcare IT market will grow significantly, Holz reports on how this assumption is also suggested in the HBS Consulting research but he ultimately asks where the money for anticipated investments will originate from. The full HBS Consulting/HINE report, from which this article takes its data, does provide some clues as to how this market expansion will materialise. In keeping with a focus on the Imaging and Healthcare Informatics markets, HBS Consulting has targeted a number of conferences this year where our consultants mingle with industry representatives and review the scientific symposia to look for trends in the sector, which are considered to have an impact on future market outlook. This year we have attended ECR and EANM. A group of HBS Consulting executives and Marketing personnel will be attending Medica in Dusseldorf, where the presence of healthcare informatics vendors seems to continue to dwarf the representation of companies in other areas of the medical devices area. However, we will be looking to expand upon our knowledge of the principal and emerging market players across the medical device areas by visiting exhibits in each Hall at Medica. Our final outing this year will be RSNA 2004 and we hope to review what we considered of interest at that conference in the next edition of the Quarterly. Apart from the healthcare IT side we look at the possible role that patient involvement will have in determining treatment pathways. We must remain aware of the possible movement in this area and weigh up the positive and negative impacts such moves will have on particular market sectors.

Yours sincerely

Dr Akmal Bhatti, Director of Corporate Development