Deltex Medical Group plc (AIM: DEMG), the global leader in Oesophageal Doppler Monitoring, has told DirectorsTalk that the health authorities in South Korea have decided to increase the range of medical conditions for which they will reimburse the cost of using ODM.
The previously narrow coverage of specific conditions for hospitals to be reimbursed for use of ODM in South Korea has been significantly broadened to include all patients with unstable haemodynamics and this includes the vast majority of major and high risk surgical patients.
The South Korean reimbursement system sets the price that hospitals pay per patient for the ODM technology used. The hospital is normally reimbursed 80% of the price by the government with the remaining 20% billed to the patient.
Sales to the Company’s distributor in Korea were GBP0.3m in 2016 (2015: GBP0.2m). With the broader reimbursement in place, the distributor’s target is to get to end-user sales of at least 1,000 probes a month by the end of 2018 which would equate to annualised Deltex sales of over GBP0.6m.
Ewan Phillips, Deltex Medical’s Chief Executive, commented: “Deltex made good progress in South Korea in 2015 and 2016 and this reimbursement decision, which is specific to ODM, should allow our distribution partner to increase the installed base and probe consumption level during 2017. South Korea is one of the most developed markets for intraoperative fluid management in the world and our objectives are both to expand the market and increase ODM’s market share.”
