Sold to the NHS, a Business Case

Although the NHS has a reputation as a slow adopter of new technology, it has to be said that medical device companies rarely make the best case for their offering. MATCH academics and researchers have worked with industry and healthcare technology procurement agencies for many years - in research, assessment and consultancy - and this course offers a distillation of their experience to support the device vendors.

In trying to sell products, systems or services, many companies:

• Fail to make comparisons with goods or services that are currently available;
• Make claims that can be refuted by any expert;
• Make a marketing pitch instead of a case;
• Fail to make an appropriate case, especially in addressing areas with little or no evidence;
• Fail to address the full context of introducing a technology into the service.

Most of these failings are readily recified with a little training in methods around the value of technology to healthcare service providers.

This MATCH course offers with appropriate examples:

• An introduction to economic evaluation with a simple tool to position your product.
• An introduction to surveying the literature surveys and making a first-pass analysis;
• A framework within which to articulate value to service operators;
• Options for addressing areas where evidence is weak or mising, including simple modelling;
• A framework for structuring your case;
• A selection of supporting tools, workbooks and literature.

Who should attend:

• Industry and investors seeking informed product developement decisions based on health technology assessment.
• R&D Managers wishing to integrate health economic considerations into New Product Development Systems.
• Marketing Managers seeking to differentiate products based on cost-effectiveness.
• Sales Managers seeking to articulate the value proposition of innovative products.

Attendees will receive:

• Case study/Demonstaration - highlighting practical applications;
• A complimentary copy of the MATCH Guide "Evaluating Health Devices".

The course will provide you with a mix of practical skills and capabilities for reaching users and also introduce you to ways of thinking that will ensure you are able to present your findings coherently to those inside your organisation and to make the case robustly to those outside.

For information on MATCH courses please contact Elizabeth Deadman at match@brunel.ac.uk