How Device Manufacturers See the System

In this chapter, we describe and interpret what we were told in interviews with representatives of eight companies that manufacture and market innovative medical devices. We begin by providing background on how companies were selected and recruited to participate, the issues addressed in the interviews, and the companies and devices on which the interviews focused. We then report and interpret what we were told about the recent experiences of the companies in marketing their devices to managed care organizations. In accordance with our pledge of confidentiality to interview respondents, the discussion is somewhat general in order to avoid inadvertently revealing the identity of any participating manufacturer. Nevertheless, we believe we convey an informative depiction of many aspects of the market environment as perceived by the interview respondents.