Tariffs to push healthcare facilities to stock up on medical devices

If prices of devices are driven up by tariffs, hospitals will either face shrinking profit margins or pass on the cost to patients. Credit: Tama2u / Shutterstock

With the surge in tariffs imposed by and on the US, the medical devices industry is likely to be impacted in several areas, including cost, supply chain, and market competitiveness. Healthcare facilities may stock up on medical devices to prepare for increased pricing if they have the budget, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s US Healthcare Facility Invoicing Database, across 56 tracked medical device markets, the top 20 facilities as of March 2025 have spent an average of 6.7% more in April. This increase doesn’t appear to be attributed to specific markets—across most covered markets, some facilities increased their spend in April, while others decreased their spend.

Necessary procedures, such as aspiration thrombectomies, will need to continue being done, whereas elective procedures such as hip reconstruction can be delayed. If prices of devices are driven up by tariffs, hospitals will either face shrinking profit margins or pass on the cost to patients, and patients might not be able to afford the increased procedure costs.

The top facilities have already spent more on hip reconstruction devices, with an 18% jump in the average amount spent by facilities from this March to April, compared to a 3% decline last March to April. Similarly, the top facilities are spending more on knee reconstruction devices. From March to April this year, there has been a 9% increase in the average spend, compared to a 13% dip from March to April last year.

Looking at aspiration thrombectomy, from March to April 2024, there was a decline of 30% in purchasing. Consistently, the March to April period this year also saw a decline of 30%. This suggests that the top facilities have not been stocking up on aspiration thrombectomy devices despite tariffs.

GlobalData expects a continued steady purchasing of devices for necessary procedures, while purchases of devices for elective procedures, such as hip and knee reconstruction, may slow if facilities have already purchased supplies in advance. If tariffs continue, manufacturing sites could move into the US to avoid tariffs for both consumers and manufacturers.

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