Because providing quality medical care is as much about the hardware as it is medications and procedures, ConMed wants to be the one-stop-shop for physicians
Written and produced by James Buchanan & Thomas Venturo
With the aging of the Baby Boom generation and a plethora of new surgical procedures and techniques to treat everything from torn knee ligaments to rotator cuffs, there is something of a boom taking place among companies providing tools for these surgeries.
Of these companies, ConMed Corporation has managed to grow its sales while expanding the number of healthcare modalities it serves through its eight specialties and three separate business units.
According to ConMed’s website, the company was founded in 1973 as a small, private manufacturer of ECG monitoring electrodes. Since then, through organic growth and acquisitions ConMed has grown into a publicly held, diversified medical device company specializing in orthopedics and general surgery.
As testament to the company’s success, in its first quarter 2007 financial results ending March 31, ConMed reported sales of $171 million. This represents a 7.9 percent increase as compared to the same period last year, and a new quarterly record for the company.
“We remain focused on our strategy to improve our revenue base by providing our customers with innovative, high quality, cost-effective medical devices, while at the same time expanding the company’s operating margin by more efficiently leveraging our organizational structure,” says Joseph J. Corasanti, president and CEO of ConMed, in a press release announcing the first quarter results. “These results are the product of the profit improvement plans we initiated in 2006, and which we are confident will continue to improve our overall performance throughout the remainder of 2007.”
The earnings report goes on to state that sales outside the U.S. were $71.4 million for the quarter, which represents 41.8 percent of the company’s total sales.
ConMed Corporation is the parent company of six business segments, which includes ConMed Linvatec, ConMed Integrated Systems, ConMed EndoSurgery, ConMed Electrosurgery, ConMed Endoscopic Technologies, and ConMed Patient Care.
Each of these units, including the parent company, produces its own products in eight specialties to serve the healthcare market within the U.S. as well as internationally. These specialties are arthroscopy, powered instruments, electrosurgery, patient care, endo-surgery, integrated systems, endoscopy, and endoscopic technologies.
ConMed Linvatec operates within three of these specialties: arthroscopy, endoscopic medical video systems, and powered surgical tools, says the company’s website. Linvatec was also the first American company to develop and manufacture bioabsorbable devices for soft tissue fixation.
The company is headquartered in Utica, N.Y., and has facilities in Rome, N.Y., Largo, Fla., Centennial Colo., Santa Barbara, Calif., El Paso, Texas, Beaverton, Ore., as well as a presence in Australia, France, Belgium, Korea, Spain, Canada, Germany, the U.K., and the Middle East.
In total, the company’s website lists 11 manufacturing facilities, 3,100 employees, worldwide distribution, and asserts that the company maintains the number one or number two market share position in the majority of its product line areas.
When the company was founded in 1973, it specialized in disposable ECG monitoring electrodes, which at the time represented an emerging market as disposable products gained in acceptance, says the website. Since then, the company has expanded its capabilities into the eight product and service areas.
Arthroscopy (or arthroscopic surgery) refers to minimally invasive procedures where damage to a joint such as a shoulder or knee (usually ligaments and/or cartilage) is repaired via the use of an arthroscope inserted into the joint through a small incision.
ConMed provides surgeons with a number of the products they need to perform these surgeries, such as arthroscopy manual instruments — which includes forceps, scissors, and suction graspers; fluid management tools — which provide irrigation and distension during procedures; products for knee surgeries such as cruciate and meniscal reconstruction and repair systems, graft harvesting, bioabsorbable and metal implants, and positioning devices; and for small joint procedures that require surgery in tight and sensitive areas.
According to the company’s website, electrosurgery is the second business area it expanded into in 1987, which was accelerated after the purchase of Aspen Labs in 1989. Organic growth combined with the acquisitions of Birtcher Medical Systems, and NDM helped the company further expand its capabilities in this area.
Simply put, electrosurgery refers to applying high-frequency electric current to tissue as a means to remove lesions, stem bleeding and/or cut tissue.
Currently, ConMed provides electrosurgery systems used to cut and cauterize tissue in nearly all types of surgeries, as well as stopping or controlling bleeding through hemostasis for specialty surgeries such as on the liver or cardiothoracic procedures, and during gastroenterological procedures.
Endoscopy means “looking inside,” and refers to procedures to examine interior areas of the body for diagnostic purposes via cameras that can be inserted into the body. To support these procedures ConMed produces a number of instruments that include cameras, scopes and sheath systems, light sources, and display monitors.
Endoscopic surgery, or endosurgery, refers to surgeries using endoscopic equipment. ConMed produces a variety of products in this arena including abdominal access devices such as trocar systems, insufflation needles, tubing and trocar site closure; legation and stapling devices; surgical instruments; and suction and irrigation devices.
Endoscopy technologies supplied by ConMed include devices for colonoscopies, upper GI scoping procedures, and pulmonology endoscopic accessories such as transbronchial needles, forceps, percutaneous and thoracentesis needles, and cytology brushes.
ConMed Integrated Systems is a unit of ConMed Corporation that provides products and services to help integrate operating room systems in a manner that takes into account the surgical needs of the room as well as the entire economy of flow and essential human ergonomic elements, says the company’s website.
Further, according to its website, ConMed Integrated Systems offers a high degree of customization to provide complete functionality. To do this, the company employs what it calls its Smart System, which includes initial consultation, design, implementation and continuing service. With the Smart System is the company’s four step process called AIDE (Assessment Integration Design Execution).
Assessment, says the company’s website, is designed to ensure the company matches the client’s vision with its needs. Requirements are determined and needs are qualified.
Integration is where the company defines and illustrates which of its products will work to achieve both the vision and objectives.
Design is where specific equipment and configurations are delineated. A thorough implementation plan is developed as well.
Execution is where the digital operating room is installed according to design criteria and specifications, says the website.
Products include surgical lighting, generators, video/web conferencing, centralized operating room control system, anesthesia, and etc. The company also will integrate other spaces where procedures are performed such as ICUs, PACUs, and endoscopy units.
ConMed Patient Care is a business unit of the company that provides patient care products for nearly all hospital departments, surgery centers and long-term care facilities, says the company’s website.
These products include ECG electrodes, pulse oximetry equipment and sensors, cardiac defibrillation and pacing pads, blood pressure cuffs, suction instruments and tubing, and IV products.
The company’s powered instruments line includes tools that look similar to various handheld drills that are used for a number of surgical procedures such as drilling and sawing into bone. The company also supplies the consoles used to operate these devices. This section of the company’s products could be thought of as something of a hardware store for doctors.