Medical Devices as a Platform, rather than just a product
The future of medical devices is in value-based intelligence which create stickiness with customers and creates new revenue streams rather than only focus on selling products.
Imagine value-added services offered to the clinic/hospitals that makes lives of caregivers easier, improves their efficiency and reduces cognitive load to make right decisions for their patients. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), value-based care models—enabled by data interoperability and care coordination—help clinicians use patient data more effectively. This leads to better-informed decisions, especially for patients with complex needs.
Unlocking Clinical and Operational Excellence Through Value-Added Services
Modern medical devices are no longer just diagnostic tools—they are becoming intelligent platforms that deliver a suite of value-added services designed to enhance clinical workflows, improve diagnostic accuracy, and streamline decision-making. These services include:
AI-based image reconstruction, diffusion tensor imaging, perfusion imaging, contrast-driven tissue targeting, EHR integration, DICOM integration, interoperability (FHIR, HL7, and other formats), personalized patient monitoring, and medical devices configurations.
Together, these services transform medical devices into intelligent, adaptive platforms that not only support clinical excellence but also open new monetization opportunities for MedTech companies.
Platform-Driven Innovation: A New Era for MedTech Innovation
Modern medical devices, when equipped with value-added services, evolve into intelligent platforms capable of integrating solutions from multiple MedTech companies directly on the end-device. This interoperability allows organizations to leverage each other’s strengths—fostering a collaborative ecosystem where innovation is shared, not siloed. Much like Wipro’s SDVerse initiative in the automotive sector, supported by industry leaders like General Motors and Magna, this model encourages co-creation and accelerates the delivery of differentiated solutions to the market.
Ideas and innovations related to value-added services are constantly evolving. The question is how quickly these ideas can be implemented in practice. In traditional medical device architecture, there is no option to add any value-added services after the devices are sold and designated for a specific use. However, transforming the product into a software-defined platform allows for continuous improvement.
MedTech companies should view their products as platforms for deploying new applications and services even after sale. With artificial intelligence growing in healthcare and the semiconductor industry producing powerful AI-enabled chips, it is now possible to run compute-intensive AI models directly on medical devices - bringing intelligence to the point of care and redefining what’s possible in real-time clinical decision-making.
Monetizing MedTech: Flexible Models for Continuous Revenue
Medical devices can serve as an on-demand platform, offering value-added services that generate new revenue streams for MedTech companies. Business models may include pay-per-use, subscription, or outcome-based approaches.
Subscription-based Model
MedTech companies can offer medical features and functions, either a-la-carte to pick and choose specific services or bundled as a set of services for selected tier.
Benefits: revenue stream with a recurring revenue for the MedTech companies.
Pay-Per-Use Model
MedTech companies can offer medical features and functions in a pay-per-use model where their customers can control the cash outflow as per their needs, unlike subscription-based model, which needs a regular investment.
Benefits: revenue stream with a recurring revenue for the MedTech companies with flexibility given to their customers in terms of their cash outflow
Outcome-linked Payment
Yet another method of offering medical features and functions is becoming popular where the customer needs to pay for an outcome instead of a service, e.g. an assistive AI feature is charged only when the suggestions have helped the care giver to make better and/or faster decision.
Benefits: revenue stream with a recurring revenue for the MedTech companies with opportunity to win trust of their customer.
These flexible business models empower MedTech companies to continuously deliver value, adapt to customer needs, and unlock sustainable revenue long after the initial device sale.
Beyond the Device: Unlocking Continuous Value in Healthcare
The future of MedTech lies in reimagining devices not as static tools, but as dynamic platforms—capable of evolving, integrating, and monetizing through intelligent services. By embracing value-added innovation and flexible business models, MedTech companies can unlock continuous clinical impact and sustainable revenue, transforming healthcare delivery and deepening trust with every use.
