Critical Care: A Multibillion Dollar Market in Transition.

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 1995--The critical care environment may be in its most challenging period of change as these high-cost, high-tech departments -- in combination, the largest cost centers in most hospitals -- try to adjust to the practices of managed care and capitation, according to a new report released by Medical Data International (MDI).

"Critical Care, 1994-2000: Analysis of Product Needs, Trends, & Market Growth" notes that hospitals are discharging patients earlier, to keep costs down and maintain high-quality care, even though the average intensive care patient is more acutely ill than ever before.

Admission to an ICU requires a diagnosis of multiple organ dysfunction or failure, which significantly increases the cost and complexity of patient management. Moreover, with approximately 57 percent of current ICU patients 65 years old or older, these units are caring for an increasingly elderly population, which can further complicate care. Some experts believe that ICU departments ultimately may split into two units: intensive care and intensive cure.

According to the report, the purchasing influence of critical care departments within the hospital will continue to grow through the end of the decade. Products and technologies that do not conform to the growing needs of critical care will not be purchased. To compete in this market, manufacturers will need to supply products that are less expensive, more portable, more efficient, easier to use, and provide practical clinical information, greater safety, and improved patient outcomes. The greatest demand will be for products that reduce:

-- Labor

-- Technology costs and procedures

-- Breakage and maintenance costs

-- Length of hospital stay

-- Length of time of specific procedures

-- Documentation time

-- Ordering and scheduling time

-- Use of hardware

-- Rate of nosocomial infections 

The report discusses products and technologies, including those for drug delivery, needle stick prevention, temperature management, hemodynamic monitoring, patient monitoring, cardiac assist, blood salvage, point-of-care blood testing, and pain management. It provides market projections and describes changing critical care applications and product requirements, competitors, and trends in technology.

MDI is a leading provider of decision-support information for the healthcare industry, with offices in the United States, Europe and Japan. MDI's mission is to provide healthcare industry executives with timely strategic and tactical information, as well as critical insight, that will lead them to improved business decisions. MDI's decision-making tools are delivered in print, in person and in electronic formats. Report Number RP-701252 Publication Date: May 1995

CONTACT: Medical Data Inc., Irvine

Kristine Wells, 714/251-2780