Medtech suppliers are increasingly moving into services to protect and grow their sales. And this can have big wins for insurers – CZ, one of the big three in Dutch health insurance, has claimed that a new Dutch programme for incontinence, pioneered by Paul Hartmann, saves CZ €10m a year.
Bjorn Keukens, Marketing Manager at the Dutch arm of Paul Hartmann, says that, under the scheme, doctors and urologists who diagnose women as incontinent refer them to a Hartmann call centre, where a team of 17 nurses put together “an individual recipe” for each woman to help her deal with the affliction.
Hartmann even arranges logistics to deliver the goods to the patient, either directly, or through a pharmacist, who takes a fee rather than a commission.
Keukens says that CZ was recently quoted in a Dutch newspaper as saying that the programme saved it €10 million a year, as it enabled incontinence to be treated effectively in an efficient manner.
Clearly, the major benefit for Hartmann is that it wins a long-term customer, who is likely to be extremely loyal to the brand, although Keukens says that, in order to work with the insurers, Hartmann has to offer products from its competitors as well.
Look out for similar schemes to be developed by Hartmann elsewhere in Europe.
