Learn how Medtronic is replacing the 5388 and 5348 short-term pacemaker models by offering aggressive pricing coupled with rebates and trade-in values for the older external pulse generator devices. For the full article, visit http://www.mdbuyline.com/blog/medtronic-external-pulse-generators-taking-advantage-rebate-trade-options./.

1. Medtronic ExternalPulse
Generators:
Rebate and Trade-In Options

2. The external pulse generator (temporary pacemaker) market
has been dominated by Medtronic for many years. These
are acute-care, short-term pacemakers used to maintain a
patient’s heart rate temporarily while the heart recovers or
until it is decided a permanent pacemaker is needed.
Virtually every acute care hospital with cardiologists will have
anywhere from a few of these to 50+ in large multi-facility
systems on hand.

3. Following this, there were some refurbished units available.
In the interim, a few other vendors had a small window of
opportunity to move into this market. Biotronik and
Cardiotronic were the only two vendors to take advantage.
The hiatus did not last long as Medtronic re-entered the
market in the latter part of 2013 with the 5391 single
chamber unit and early 2014 with the 5392 dual chamber
unit. This signaled that Medtronic would still remain active in
this market, but the question would be if they would still
maintain their dominance of the past.

4. In Q2 of 2014, I believe the answer is a resounding yes.
Historically, pricing of these units have been heavily tied to
volume and I expect this will continue to be the case. Often the
breakdown would show differing prices for 1-5 units, 6-10 units,
10-20 units or 21+ units. We began to see this waver a bit, but
not often. It appears Medtronic is now beginning to focus on
replacing the older 5388 and 5348 models. In May and June of
this year, we are seeing Medtronic offer aggressive pricing
coupled with “rebates / trade-in” values for the older devices.

5. This is something we have not seen historically. While the
discounting varies, the rebate / trade-in is averaging about
$1,350 per dual chamber unit and $565 per single chamber unit.
These are significant values since single or even a few unit
purchases often are not discounted at all or may be $100-$200
per unit at best. Thus, the per unit cost with discounting and the
rebate offers the potential for significant savings that previously
was not available.

6. For facilities that are invested in the older Medtronic external
pulse generator technology, now may be the time to start looking
at the option to replace aging equipment that will become more
difficult to maintain and take advantage of Medtronic’s latest
discounts.