MTAA Xmas Shutdown
The Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA) gives notice that there will be a shutdown period between:

• Close 5pm Friday 22nd December 2017
• Re-open 9am Tuesday 2nd January 2018

MTAA wishes its members, associates, stakeholders, partners and friends a happy and safe Christmas and New Year.

MTAA Strategic Plan 2017-2020

The Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA) has launched its new Strategic Plan 2017 - 2020. 

The Strategic Plan draws on extensive quantitative and qualitative research conducted with MTAA members earlier in the year. 

The Plan focuses on collaboration as a pathway to grow the MTAA, with a broad-based alliance that includes researchers, manufacturers, distributors, clinicians, providers, funders and consumers.

Introduction to Operating Theatre Protocols

Only 1 place remaining for the following face-to-face 1.5 Introduction to Operating Theatre Protocols:

• 1st December 2017, Sydney 1 PLACE REMAINING

We will also be holding a Scrubbing, Gowning & Gloving Workshop on 29th November 2017, Brisbane.

The following 2018 Operating Theatre Protocols course dates are available for bookings:

• 1.5 Introduction to Operating Theatre Protocols 23rd February 2018 Sydney
• 1.5 Introduction to Operating Theatre Protocols 23rd March 2018 Sydney
• 1.5 Introduction to Operating Theatre Protocols 10th August 2018 Sydney
• 1.5 Introduction to Operating Theatre Protocols 19th October 2018 Sydney
• 1.5 Introduction to Operating Theatre Protocols 30th November 2018 Sydney

More course dates will be announced as venue details are to be confirmed.

Please email pd@mtaa.org.au for bookings and enquiries or contact MTAA Professional Development Manager Lee Grow at lgrow@mtaa.org.au for more information.

How Medical Devices play a central role in Health care

Ian Burgess CEO of the Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA) writes 'How Medical Devices play a central role in Health care' as featured in the November 2017 edition of Health Voices Journal of the Consumers Health Forum.

"Global advances in medical technology over the past 20 years have resulted in a 56% reduction in hospital stays, 25% decline in disability rates, 16% decline in annual mortality and increased life expectancy of approximately 3.2 years.

At the heart and soul of the medical devices industry are 19,000 dedicated professionals, committed to making a positive difference to patients’ lives through medical technology.

Last year in Australia more than 2.5 million surgeries took place, and for each and every one of these surgeries, medical technology played a part. Technology allows patients to hear, to walk, to see, to live or to have a quality of life that they otherwise would not have."

Whatever happened to our digital health utopia?

Following the MTAA MedTech 2017 conference, Felicity Nelson from the Medical Republic interviewed Richard Royle from PwC (one of our keynote speakers) on the subject of digital hospitals in Australia.

"The digital health revolution has been a long time coming. Once it arrives, we are told, everything will run at peak efficiency, for less money, with higher quality care, greater transparency and immaculate interoperability. The digital data trinity – electronic medical records, artificial intelligence and big data – will, futurists claim, metamorphose healthcare.

But this sparkling vision grates uncomfortably against the reality; the dull dialling of fax machines can still be heard in most waiting rooms around the country. Frustrated, sick patients still cannot access their most basic medical records remotely online.

Experts came together this month at the Medical Technology Association of Australia annual conference in Sydney to discuss what is being done to close the expectation gap between what technology can do, and what it is actually doing right now.

Australia has fallen behind much of the Western world in terms of hospital digitisation; while the US has around 2000 “digital” hospitals, Australia currently only has three. But significant work was under way to push many more hospitals into the digital age, Richard Royle, the national digital health leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia, said"

New Deputy Secretary responsible for private health insurance policy

As reported in HealthDispatch last week Details of Department of Health restructure:

"The leadership of the Department of Health's Technology, Assessment and Access division has been confirmed.

Penny Shakespeare has returned as first assistant secretary of the Technology, Assessment and Access division, having acted as deputy secretary of the Health Benefits area following the retirement of Andrew Stuart.

Mark Cormack, previously deputy secretary of the Department's 'Strategic Policy and Innovation' area, is the new deputy secretary of Health Benefits, now interestingly renamed 'Health Financing'.

The area includes a raft of contentious policy areas, including private health insurance, PBS, diagnostic imaging, pathology and the ongoing review of the Medicare Benefits Schedule."

Department of Health released PL critical dates for 2018

The Department of Health has released the critical dates for the February 2018 Prostheses List:

• PHI 53/17 Private Health Insurance (Prostheses) Amendment Rules 2017 No.6

• PHI 52/17 Critical Dates for February 2018 Prostheses List

The List, which will incorporate the first tranche benefit reductions arising from the Strategic Agreement with Government, will be published on 28 February and become effective on 14 March 2018.  Companies will be provided with a draft Prostheses List for review in the second week of January 2018.

Call for MedTech case studies & success stories

MTPConnect sits at the nexus of the sector and will complement and work collaboratively with the existing industry associations (such as AusBiotech, MTAA, and MA), research bodies, investors and funders, and government agencies and departments in Australia. MTPConnect has an important role to play in bringing many sector stakeholders together to create a more unified approach to the development and promotion of Australia as an attractive clinical trial destination and research and development (R&D) hub.

We are looking to showcase great success stories in the MTP sector, as well as in meetings, at events and for use at international trade delegations. You can see sector case studies via this link - www.mtpconnect.org.au/casestudies. The aim of the case studies is to showcase great, innovative organisations/projects/products in the sector to inspire others and showcase Australia’s great capabilities to the world. Should you want to submit a case study/success story, please contact Polo Guilbert-Wright (polo@mtaa.org.au).

If you have not already done so, I encourage you to please sign up to our sector directory, facilitating connections and collaboration nationally and internationally - www.mtpconnect.org.au/directoryregistration. This allows others to find you and to engage.

Please also sign up individually as an affiliate to stay up to date with our activities and have opportunity to contribute to our community consultations (it's free)  - www.mtpconnect.org.au/network

MTPConnect CEO and Managing Director Sue MacLeman with Australian High Commissioner in Singapore Bruce Gosper and MTAA CEO Ian Burgess at APACMed Singapore.

Industry Collaboration across the Asia Pacific Region

There were a number of key events that took place in the last month across the region including:

• The Asia Pacific Regional Conference, APACMed Singapore
• The ANZ Leadership Forum on the Trans-Tasman innovation ecosystem

These events provided an opportunity to engage internationally and showcase Australia’s MedTech sector while exploring opportunities for further engagement internationally.  We look forward to a number of initiatives and opportunities in 2018.

The Bridge Program

Queensland University of Technology, in collaboration with MTPConnect and 15 pharmaceutical companies, universities and industry associations, will be delivering an exciting, new and innovative education program that will provide the necessary training to enable the successful commercialisation of Australian pharmaceutical research.

The 2018 offering of the program will select participants from across Australia to take part in face-to-face and online training in the scientific, legal, financial, clinical, regulatory and reimbursement disciplines that contribute to research translation and the commercialisation of medicines.

Final Call: Funding for Health Sector Women Availabale

Women currently working in the health sector have a final opportunity to register their interest in a scholarship worth up to $8,000 to support participation in an accredited leadership development program.  

Funding must be apportioned by the end of 2017 and it is unsure when these grants will be available again. Find out more and register your interest by completing the Expression of Interest form here prior to December 15, 2017.

Call for abstracts - Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association

The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association is calling for Abstracts for the 42nd World Hospital Congress to be held in Brisbane next October. Australian and international health sector leaders wishing to present their work, orally or as a poster, at the Congress are invited to submit abstracts of no more than 500 words by 15 January 2018, using the online submission form.

BioMedTech Horizons Program

Expressions of Interest are open for the Australian Government’s $5 million BioMedTech Horizons program, an initiative to support innovative collaborative health technologies that address key health challenges.

Important Dates:

• Expressions of interest open: 1 November 2017
• Closing date for EOI: 10 December 2017
• Closing date for stage 2 applications: 15 January 2018
• Announcement of successful applications: expected late February 2018

The sector’s response to the BioMedTech Horizons program has been fantastic, and though there are still two weeks left for EOI submissions, the review process has already begun so get your expressions of interest in as soon as possible.