Italy, a mature market for medical equipment with their high per capita income and sophisticated healthcare system, seeks a broad range of cutting-edge medical equipment. The need for medical devices includes consumable products which represents the largest market segment followed by diagnostic imaging and patient aids.
Despite having a considerable local manufacturing industry, the domestic market for medical equipment is highly dependent on imports. Major suppliers include Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and the U.S.
The Italian government is the primary purchaser of medical equipment with public hospitals accounting for over 75 percent of medical device sales with 25 percent of the remaining sales going to the private sector.
Hospital systems and the use of EMRs are expected to see investments over the next three years. Specifically, these areas include investing in EHRs, cloud computing, administrative management, digital management of drugs, ePrescription, and mobile health and business intelligence.
Budgetary pressures and escalating costs are moving Italy towards value-based healthcare which will result in new products needed to provide better health outcomes in cost effective ways. It is thought that the public healthcare system is likely to develop value and quality-based pricing models and then will need to request data and analytics to produce cost effective evidence.
Opportunities for companies with innovative products are rising as compared to traditional products. The areas with the most need are in preventive care, remote monitoring, plus the need for technology to identify at-risk patients at an early stage.
The leading sub-sectors with the strongest sales potential for U.S manufactured medical equipment includes home care equipment, remote monitoring equipment, high frequency medical lasers, endoscopes, and diagnostic imaging equipment, non-invasive and micro-surgery devices, anesthesiology equipment, EKG, stimulators and defibrillators, ophthalmic equipment, monitoring equipment, and telemedicine equipment and services.
The European eHealth market has an estimated value of $20 billion with an annual growth of 3%. Considering that the demand for healthcare products and services will rise significantly in coming years, information technology as applied to the healthcare system, will help to deliver more effective and efficient healthcare.
The authority for medical devices in Italy is the Directorate General of Medical Devices and Pharmaceutical Services at the Ministry of Health http://www.salute.gov.it. For a contact in Rome, contact Kira Migliorini, Healthcare Technologies Specialist at the Commercial Service U.S Embassy Rome, at http://export.gov/italy. To locate the nearest U.S. Commercial Service Trade Specialist in the U.S., go to http://export.gov/usoffices.