New Medicare Reimbursement will have Significant Impact on the Intermittent Catheter Market, according to Millennium Research Group

February 19, 2009—Waltham, Massachusetts—Millennium Research Group (MRG) has updated its US Markets for Urological Devices 2008 report to reflect momentous shifts in the US intermittent catheter market. Due mainly to a favorable upgrade in Medicare reimbursement, the US intermittent catheter market, comprising reusable straight strips, disposable gel-coated strips and trays, and disposable hydrophilic strips, will achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) above 40% between 2008 and 2012.

Effective April 1, 2008, the number of intermittent catheters covered by Medicare increased from four per month to a maximum of 200 catheters per month, promoting single-use catheterization. One of the largest influences driving this change was the November 2007 recommendation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that its clinicians follow all manufacturer instructions for catheter use, ensuring that catheters classified as single use by manufacturers and the FDA are not reused. In order to provide consistency among government organizations, Medicare reimbursement was changed shortly following recommendations from the Department of VA.

“Also important was that on October 1, 2008, Medicare withdrew reimbursement to hospitals for treating certain conditions that were not present on admission, including catheter-associated urinary tract infections,” says Lexie Code, Manager of the Endoscopy division at MRG. “Because intermittent strips are inserted only when the need to drain urine arises and therefore result in fewer infections, hospitals have an additional incentive to adopt these products, further driving market expansion.”

MRG’s US Markets for Urological Devices 2008 report provides a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of the new reimbursement, as well as numerous other urological device markets in the areas of incontinence, prostate cancer, stone management, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and erectile dysfunction (ED). Coverage of key industry competitors includes American Medical Systems, C.R. Bard, Caldera Medical, Cook Urological, Coloplast, Lumenis, Olympus, Richard Wolf, and many more.