ECRI Institute has announced a formal strategic partnership with LSE Health and Social Care at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The two organizations will be collaborating on a project examining medical device pricing across a range of different countries.

ECRI reports that medical devices are estimated to account for 6% to 7% of total health expenditure in the United States and in European countries. Yet, little is known about the factors that determine prices. Anecdotal evidence suggests that prices of identical devices may vary significantly between individual buyers and countries.

“Reducing costs in the healthcare system is critically important for hospitals and health systems worldwide,” says David Watson, PhD, vice president of european operations for ECRI Institute, which is dedicated to bringing applied research to discover which medical devices, procedures, drugs and processes will best facilitate improvements in patient care. “We anticipate that our partnership with LSE will yield the kind of research results that are needed to make device pricing more transparent.”

For more information about this project, see the news announcement from ECRI.