A new partnership between two value assessment specialists promises to make the evaluation of innovative medical technologies easier for suppliers and customers.

BITECIC Ltd and MATCH, two organisations with track records in helping medtech companies and NHS commissioners to assess the value of new treatments, have joined forces to provide tools, methods and advice.

The two organisations will jointly appoint a person to deliver training in MATCH tools and methods, and provide professional services to support clients' use of them.

Professor Terry Young of Brunel University, London, the co-ordinating Director of MATCH, said: "There's a clear synergy in this partnership. MATCH is a successful developer of approaches and tools for assessing value and economic impact, while BITECIC provides ongoing operational support, especially to SMEs in the healthcare sector."

MATCH, the Multidisciplinary Assessment of Technology Centre for Healthcare, is a research collaboration that has operated since 1983 at Birmingham, Brunel, Nottingham and Ulster Universities, identifying ways to assess and demonstrate value in medtech innovation.

BITECIC Ltd supports industry, universities and healthcare professionals in the evaluation of medical technologies in urology, orthopaedics, cardiac surgery and other areas.

"This is an exciting opportunity for us to lend our experience in reaching out to a wider set of users who really need to understand and benefit from MATCH's tools and guides as they enter a world that demands cost efficiency from new health technologies," said BITECIC Director John Egan.

The partners will focus initially on the UK marketplace, extending into European, US and Asian markets within two years.

 
Terry Young