In this issue

When it comes to making payments to physicians, Big Pharma may be the first industry that springs to mind thanks to its well-documented history of the practice. However, according to a recent study published in the Health Affairs journal, the US medical device industry is outspending even big pharma when it comes to payments to physicians.

Between 2014 and 2017, medtech firms spent $3.6bn on physician payments, compared to $3.3bn from pharma firms. But does this practice impact how a patient is treated? In this issue of Medical Technology, we investigate the implications of physician payments.

Across the pond in the UK, the NHS is facing a serious backlog of non-emergency surgical procedures that were put on hold at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but will a $10bn deal with the private hospital sector help to rectify the situation? We find out.

Elsewhere in this issue, we examine a new wave of virtual and augmented reality tools that are making it easier to train students to use complicated new surgical devices and ask Sky Medical Technology CEO Bernard Ross why manufacturers should not abandon the pursuit of new technologies post-pandemic.

For all this, plus the latest insight and analysis from GlobalData, read on.

Eloise Mclennan, editor