AliveCor, San Francisco-based maker of smartphone-based electrocardiogram devices, stands to be a big winner of a plan by Britain’s National Health Service to fast-track payment approval of healthcare innovations. Simon Stevens, CEO of NHS England, made the announcement Friday at the annual NHS Confederation conference in Manchester, England.
In an email, AliveCor Founder and CMO Dr. David Albert said that this opens the door to the NHS buying AliveCor devices for all 2 million atrial fibrillation patients in England “to save money and lives by preventing strokes.” About 20 percent of AFib patients have strokes, according to Stevens.
In noting that the NHS is unlikely to get any more cash from the British government in this time of tight budgets, Stevens said he was making administrative changes to permit his agency to “bulk buy” new technologies. This, according to National Health Executive, means that the NHS will purchase promising technologies across England and assure reimbursement when a local healthcare provider orders one of the approved technologies.
The program starts next April.
“I think we are leaving money on the table and leaving the opportunity unaddressed in a way which we are using some of the innovations that our clinicians can see would make a difference, but we are not getting them out to the band,” Stevens said.
“Now – at a time when the NHS is under pressure – rather than just running harder to stand still, it’s time to grab with both hands these practical new treatments and technologies,” Stevens added.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Stevens showed an AliveCor device on stage during his keynote address. He also said that the NHS would bulk purchase myCOPD, a British-developed app for patients to manage chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. “Let’s get these kinds of innovations diffused much more quickly, much more widely,” Stevens said.
Albert called the move “a revolutionary inflection point for AliveCor.”
Watch this video of Stevens’ address. He starts at about 5:45 and gets to the ECG at 30:05.
Photo: AliveCor
