Implementing New MedTech Products within Swedish Public Healthcare

Abstract

This report aimed to investigate how the implementation process of new MedTech products could be improved within the Swedish public healthcare system from a managerial perspective by investigating the implementation process today, factors for implementation, barriers to implementation, and collaboration with stakeholders. A case study on Swedish regions was conducted, collecting data from qualitative interviews with managers involved in the implementation process. In total, fifteen interviews were conducted via Zoom and Teams with managers from ten different regions. In the end, the results showed that the implementation process differs a lot depending on what new MedTech product is actually being implemented. The report concluded that there is no “best way” to implement a new MedTech product in healthcare. However, to improve the implementation process, managers need to recognize what MedTech product is being implemented, use key learnings from implementations of similar MedTech products, understand the whole system around the MedTech product, identify barriers early on in the project and plan how to overcome barriers, secure key resources like time and finance, provide enough education for healthcare staff to feel comfortable using the products to ensure usage of them in the treatment of the patients and collaborate close with stakeholders during the whole implementation process from problem formulation to implementation.