Category: Community

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Costs for medical devices have fallen in every quarter since the MTAA’s (Medical Technology Association of Australia) Agreement with the Federal Government signed in 2017.

Since the March 2018 quarter there have been reductions in average benefits across almost all prostheses categories, including:

• Cardiac costs down 16.4%
• Hip costs down 5.3%
• Knee costs down 5.7%

Compared with the March 2018 quarter, March 2019 quarter statistics show that the average benefit paid for all prostheses has gone down 9%.

These cost reductions are a direct result of the $1.1 billion dollars in cuts delivered by MTAA through the Agreement and demonstrate MTAA’s active contribution to the affordability of healthcare in Australia.

The Agreement signed in October 2017 will save private health insurers $1.1 billion in payments for medical devices over the next four years and directly resulted in delivering the lowest private health insurance premium increase in 18 years.

Today’s APRA data on private health insurers shows them continuing to enjoy strong profitability, with after tax profits up almost 20% over the past three years as affordability for ordinary Australian families goes down.

“Today’s APRA data continues to demonstrate the impact of MTAA’s Agreement with the Federal Government through a reduction in costs for medical devices,” said Ian Burgess, MTAA CEO said.

“MTAA has made a significant contribution to the affordability of healthcare in Australia through the delivery of the lowest private health insurance premium increase in 18 years in 2018.

“Cardiac costs are down 6.6%, hip costs are down 3.7%, knee costs are down 2.7% – this is a tangible demonstration of the benefits of the MedTech industry’s contribution to the affordability of private health insurance.

“Private health insurers must now demonstrate that they have passed these savings on to consumers in full.

“The medical technology industry believes access to a full range of medical technology is one of the key benefits of having private health insurance and we’re committed to helping ensure all Australians lead healthier and more productive lives,” Mr Burgess concluded.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The initiative, which involves the education, screening and treatment of 1.5 million underserved people by 2020, is supported by grants from Edwards Lifesciences Foundation.

The Foundation’s 2019 Annual Grant Cycle is now open. Applications for our Every Heartbeat Matters, Community and other grants are now available on our website with a submission deadline of June 28 at 5 p.m. PT.

The Foundation is interested in partnering with charitable organisations that are meeting basic needs in the communities where our employees live and work, and that leverage the volunteer time and talents of our employee volunteers to impact their community.

“Since the Every Heartbeat Matters initiative began five years ago, we have made substantial progress in building a global community that is addressing the burden of heart valve disease for underserved people,” said Amanda Fowler, executive director, Edwards Lifesciences Foundation.

“This year, we plan to continue growing our giving focused on Every Heartbeat Matters and deepening our partners’ impact with the engagement of our talented and dedicated employees around the world.”

“Our commitment to charitable giving is one of the defining elements of our culture and locally we’re proud our employees actively participate,” said Managing Director of Edwards Lifesciences ANZ, Pat Williams.

“We’re fortunate to be able to support many health- and community-focused programs through grants to non-profit organisations around the world from the Edwards Lifesciences Foundation.”

Last year across ANZ over $165,000 were awarded to 10 organisations, including:

• $75,000: Friends of Fiji Heart Foundation – a New Zealand registered charitable trust which provides free operations for the poor and needy citizens of Fiji who are suffering from valvular heart disease
• $7,000: National Heart Foundation of Australia – to help with heart health and warning signs campaign
• $5,000: Youth Off the Street -to help with its Mentoring Program to offer one-on-one guidance, support and encouragement so that recipients can develop their talents, life skills and achieve their goals.
• $5,000: The Exodus Foundation – Christmas Day appeal to help serve lunch to thousands of hungry, needy and lonely people.

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]“Clinical trials are vital to ensuring patients receive the best treatments and get the best outcomes. Effective and efficient treatments not only reduce suffering they can also mean less time spent receiving treatment and less money spent by the patient and the health system,” said Prof John Zalcberg, Chair of ACTA.

“There are treatments in regular use that are not fully supported by evidence, and investigator-led clinical trials are important in testing assumptions and making sure we are providing the most effective treatments,” Prof Zalcberg said.

The Clinical Trials 2019 National Awards gives us a great opportunity to get together and celebrate some of the great work that has taken place in Australia, or led from here, including:

• A trial that answered the question of whether an aspirin a day really keeps the heart attack away.
• A trial that will lead to a complete revision of international guidelines and change abdominal surgery practice around the world
• A trial that will improve recovery time for survivors of septic shock and see them spending less time in intensive care units
• A trial that embraced consumer recommendations and support to help clear the way to prove the best treatment for saving preterm babies

“The winner of the 2019 Trial of the Year award is the ASPREE Trial, which looked at the efficacy of people 70 and above taking aspirin daily in preventing age-related illness including heart attack and dementia,” said Prof Zalcberg.

“A treatment that has almost achieved folkloric popularity was proved to potentially do more harm than good, given that aspirin also increases bleeding. While aspirin was viewed as a cheap preventative, the ASPREE clinical trial has the potential to keep people from suffering a known side-effect caused by taking a treatment we now know doesn’t help.”

The ADRENAL Study was a Finalist for Trial of the Year and took out the STiNG Award for Excellence in Trial Statistics.

“As well as proving that hydrocortisone reduced the severity and duration of shock, lowered time on life support and meant shorter hospital admissions, the ADRENAL study was the first Australian ICU trial to be included in the Portfolio of the National Institute of Health Research, UK, facilitating UK resource support. The ADRENAL team also developed and manufactured a GMP-licensed internationally exportable parenteral placebo formulation, creating a valuable resource for future triallists,” Prof Zalcberg said.

This year saw the creation of a new award for consumer engagement and involvement with consumers. The winner, the TORPIDO 30/60 study wanted to determine which initial concentration of oxygen should be given to preterm babies in the delivery room. The team invited consumers to be involved in the design of this trial to assist with ideas to alleviate parental concern and increase the number of babies entered in, and benefiting from, the trial.

Professor Anne Kelso, CEO of National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) was keynote speaker at the event.

2019 Trial of the Year Winner
ASPREE

ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly

ASPREE (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) study was an international, multicentre clinical trial to determine whether daily low-dose aspiring prolonged good health by preventing or delaying age-related illness such as cardiovascular disease (heart attack and stroke), dementia, depression and certain cancers in the healthy elderly. It is the largest primary prevention aspiring study ever undertaken in healthy people aged at or above 70 years and the first to weigh the benefits versus the risks.

Associate Professor Robyn Woods, accepted the award, saying, “I’m proud to have been involved in such a significant study as ASPREE, and to have led such a fine, talented team of researchers and support staff. It was a huge undertaking that is already seeing real impact in the community, with millions of older people around the world without a clinical need to take aspirin, now able to take one less daily medication.”

2019 Trial of the Year Finalist

ADRENAL

ADjunctive CorticosteRoid TrEatment iN CriticAlly ilL patients with septic shock

Steroids are commonly used drugs in medical practice for a variety of conditions. Whether hydrocortisone improves survival in patients with septic shock was unclear.

The ADRENAL study was developed to determine if hydrocortisone, compared to a placebo, reduces 90-day-all-cause mortality in patients admitted to an ICU with septic shock.

Lead author of the ADRENAL study Professor Bala Venkatesh, of The George Institute, said: “It’s a great honour to be a finalist in these prestigious awards. Sepsis does not discriminate and around a quarter of people with the disease will die. And many more will be left with life-long disabling conditions such as amputations.

“This award will help raise much needed awareness about sepsis. It also highlights the importance of such trials as ADRENAL that are enabling us to learn more about sepsis and improve survival rates and better outcome for patients the world over,” he said.

 2019 Trial of the Year Finalist

RELIEF

REstrictive versus LIbEral Fluid Therapy for Major Abdominal Surgery

Every year at least 310 million people undergo major surgery worldwide, and they all receive intravenous fluids – generally receiving up to 7 litres on the day of surgery. The RELIEF team believed existing evidence for fluid restriction during and immediately after abdominal surgery was inconclusive. They were concerned that fluid restriction could increase the risk of hypotension and decrease kidney and other vital organ perfusion, leading to serious complications after surgery. It also meant that more patients might require admission to the intensive care unit after surgery because of haemodynamic instability – adding expense and complexity.

Professor Paul Myles, Chief Investigator said, “Our international study clearly demonstrated that fluid restriction did not reduce complications or improve recovery after surgery. Importantly, we found that fluid restriction damaged the kidneys and increased the risk of wound infection. This simple intervention – administering moderately liberal IV fluids during and after surgery – is the first proven prophylaxis to prevent kidney damage after surgery. This new information can better inform not only anaesthesiologists and surgeons, but also junior doctors on the wards. This will change practice around the world.”

2019 ACTA STInG Excellence in Trial Statistics Award Winner

ADRENAL

ADjunctive CorticosteRoid TrEatment iN CriticAlly ilL patients with septic shock

The design of ADRENAL resulted in several firsts for the Australian ICU network –

All pre-specified and post-hoc analyses were transparently reported in the NEJM publication

Associate Professor Billot said: “We knew that the ADRENAL trial was likely to have substantial impact. Our goal was to make sure the statistical analysis was as ‘robust’ as possible. In particular, we paid a lot of attention to the statistical analysis plan to ensure a high degree of precision and transparency. We are very pleased to be recognised with the “Excellence in Trial Statistics” award”.

 2019 Consumer Involvement Award Winner

TORPIDO 30/60

Targeted Oxygenation in the Respiratory care of Premature Infants at Delivery: effects on Outcome

The TORPIDO 30/60 study wanted to determine which initial concentration of oxygen should be given to preterm babies in the delivery room. Enrolling babies into a study of this nature is complex because it is not always possible or appropriate to gain parents’ approval at a difficult time.

“Small variations in the routine treatments that premature babies receive soon after they are born may significantly influence their survival. What happens in the first 15 minutes from birth can dramatically alter the rest of a baby’s life,” said Professor William Tarnow-Mordi Director of Neonatal and Perinatal Trials at the National Health and Medical and Research Council (NHMRC) Clinical Trials Centre.

The team invited consumers to be involved in the design of this trial to assist with ideas to alleviate parental concern and increase the number of babies entered in, and benefiting from, the trial.

Melinda Cruz – founder of Miracle Babies, acknowledged consumer expert and mother of three babies who were born preterm – was invited to be a member of the Trial Management Committee which worked with the Hunter New England Human Research Ethics Committee, eventually gaining a waiver of consent for TORPIDO 30/60.

This means that all preterm babies can benefit by entering the study, including those born at night, on weekends, or in emergencies – a group that was often missed in previous trials. It means that after 30 years, TORPIDO 30/60 could find out which level of oxygen was better for preterm babies.

Melinda Cruz said, “I am really honoured to be the inaugural winner of this award and that the collaboration between parents and researchers is being acknowledged in this way. It is one of the biggest ways to make an impact on advancing health. I am hopeful that this recognition will open more opportunities and that working together will continue to grow.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The online survey of 191 companies and almost 3,000 employees asked respondents questions around what career paths employers provided, what learning and development opportunities are available and what rewards and recognition are given for a job well done.

For example, Edwards is committed to welcoming Diverse Perspectives, and has hosted a series of unconscious bias workshops for its employees.

In the workplace, it has found that personal bias affects many of the daily choices we make and is, therefore, quite prevalent, but it is mostly unconscious choices that we make. Although bias occurs unconsciously, if there is no awareness and it is left unchecked, these biases can have a negative impact on an organisation’s effectiveness. Thus, examining of unconscious bias and the role it plays in workplace decisions may provide better understanding for all employees.

In order to increase awareness of unconscious bias and its impact on decision making in the organisational setting, Edwards has heavily invested in providing its employees training and development using the SEEDS Model by the Neuroleadership Institute to help break those biases.

Managing Director of Edwards Lifesciences ANZ, Pat Williams said:

“This is a fantastic achievement as the only medical technology company to be recognised sets Edwards Lifesciences apart in the industry.

“Our HR team deserves the recognition for delivering training and professional development programs across our ANZ organisation that align to our patient-centered Credo.

“It’s no surprise that our Director of HR, Yolanda Mallouhi, was awarded the MTAA women in MedTech Champion last year. This was reinforced recently when in front of 300 HR peers across Edwards Lifesciences, Yolanda was awarded the 2018 HR Innovative Contribution Award Winner.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]