New innovations in cardiovascular technology are expected to increase the prices of the devices in the next few years, according to Novation's spring 2014 CV Watch report. The average price for cardiac implants is projected to decrease by two to six percent this year but it will increase by up to 35 percent in the next few years.

In January, Medtronic announced that the U.S. renal denervation trial for the treatment of resistant renal hypertension did not meet its efficacy goal, which was a big letdown for the industry. Before the announcement, over 60 companies all over the world started creating similar products and spent millions on research and development.

The question that remains now is whether the loss of the multi-billion dollar U.S. marketplace will heighten the pressure on existing product prices. Novation expects that the decrease in prices for pacemakers, implantable defibrillators and drug-eluting stents in the past few years will most likely slow down, which will make cardiovascular supply savings harder to realize.

About 850,000 patients currently suffer from mitral valve regurgitation in the U.S. and that number is expected to increase as the aging population grows, according to the report. There are only a few devices for transcatheter mitral repair, including the recently FDA-approved Abbott Vascular MitraClip device, but more are expected to hit the market in the next few years.

Not every hospital is performing the procedure right now because they don't meet all the requirements. But for the hospitals that do, the potential patient population will lead to an increased demand on their infrastructure and higher supply chain costs.

More and more hospitals in the U.S. are starting to use transcatheter aortic valves. In 2013, Edwards Lifesciences' Sapien was the only FDA approved device, but Medtronic's CoreValve was approved in January.

Even though only about 284 hospitals are currently performing the procedure, the number of procedures is increasing and it's expected to climb to double-digit rates. However, even with the introduction of Medtronic's device, it appears that there will be little relief in the price, which is currently $30,000, according to the report.

Over the past several years, Boston Scientific's innovation has slowed down due to the debt it acquired after purchasing Guidant. However, over the next 18 to 24 months, it is going to release a number of new products including a transcatheter aortic valve, left atrial appendage closure system, magnetic resonance imaging pacing system, drug-eluting stents, and renal denervation systems.

The report stated that with all of these new technology devices emerging, hospitals have to balance clinical benefits and patient demand with the economics. Many of the devices will either enhance or change existing devices or procedures, and other devices will lead to new procedure options.

The report stresses that hospital executives have to plan for the potential increase in costs by having discussions with clinical and non-clinical staff. It also mentioned that the discussions about the products' use and the benefits they will bring to patients need to happen sooner rather than later.

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