Vasco Eiriz

A research proposal on the relationship between investment in medical devices and hospital performance
José Figueiredo; Vasco Eiriz

This paper aims to propose a research on the impact of medical devices on hospital performance. New medical devices, from typical magnetic resonance and ultrasound technology to more modern and rare technologies like transplant surgery or orthopedic devices, are very expensive and, in some cases, are in a test phase. These new medical devices allow hospitals to offer new or enhanced services. This will provide more patients, a higher level of usage rate and additional revenues. But sometimes, new medical devices will not bring superior performance due to its poor usage. This paper proposes to investigate the relationship between investment in medical devices and hospital performance in the Portuguese hospital sector using data collected from secondary and primary sources. Some of the expected difficulties in implementing this research are also discussed.