StarFish Medical Hosts MedTech Unscripted on Building a Reimbursement Strategy for Intelligent Medical Devices
Victoria, BC (August 13) StarFish Medical, a MedTech design and development partner, today announced an upcoming MedTech Unscripted, Hardware to Intelligence: Building a Reimbursement Strategy for Intelligent Medical Devices, taking place on Thursday, August 27 at 1:00 pm ET / 10:00 am PT.
Mature industries eventually shift from hardware to intelligence, as cars, aircraft, and finance already have. Healthcare is undergoing the same shift, and reimbursement, not technology, is the constraint that will determine how quickly it happens. When a device continues generating data long after implantation, the payment model built for a single procedure no longer applies, and no clear replacement has taken its place. Scott Phillips, CEO of StarFish Medical, will sit down with Dr. Bill Hunter, MD, Founding Member, CEO and CMO of Canary Medical, and pioneer of the Persona IQ smart knee implant, to work through what that gap actually looks like in practice.
Hunter has spent more than 30 years as a physician, inventor, and MedTech entrepreneur building devices and companies from the ground up. In this session, he addresses the strategy required to keep reimbursement aligned with a product that keeps producing value after it’s implanted, including where existing models break down, what tradeoffs early-stage teams tend to underestimate, and where the decisions get harder as a device moves toward market.
The discussion will focus on how reimbursement frameworks need to account for ongoing data generation rather than a single point of payment, where teams misjudge the cost or complexity of pricing a connected device, and how founders and executives can work through regulatory and reimbursement uncertainty before it stalls a program.
The session includes a live audience Q&A, giving attendees a direct opportunity to raise their own reimbursement and regulatory questions.
This MedTech Unscripted is intended for MedTech founders, executives, and leadership teams working through what it means to build and price a device that behaves less like hardware and more like an ongoing service.
Registration is now open. Interested participants can reserve their spot online.
Presenter Bios:
Bill Hunter
Dr. Bill Hunter is the Founding Member, CEO and CMO of Canary Medical, a medical technology company pioneering active implantable platforms and AI-driven analytics to build a future where connected devices continuously inform treatment and lower the overall cost of healthcare.
Bill brings more than 30 years of experience in healthcare as a former practicing physician, serial medtech entrepreneur and chief executive. He is a lifelong inventor with over 200 patents and patent applications. He was involved in the discovery and development of the TAXUS® Coronary Drug-Eluting Stent, the Zilver PTX® Peripheral Drug-Eluting Stent, paclitaxel-eluting balloons, the Quill® barbed wound closure device and Persona IQ® The Smart Knee.
Bill holds a Doctor of Medicine from University of British Columbia, a Master of Science from University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Science from McGill University.
Scott Phillips
Scott holds a degree in Engineering Physics from the University of British Columbia. Prior to starting StarFish, he worked in diverse areas such as lithium battery development and manufacturing, UV spectroscopy instrumentation and hi-fi audio speakers. Under his leadership StarFish has grown into a diverse professional organization with clients around the world and 100% focus on medical devices. Scott is a past Chair and current member of the LifeSciences British Columbia board, member of the 2022 VIATEC Board of Directors, Fellow of The Canadian Academy of Engineering, winner of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2017 Pacific Awards Technology category, 2017 recipient of the VIATEC Technology Champion award, and volunteers with Junior Achievement, Entrepreneurs Organization, and University of British Columbia.
About StarFish Medical
StarFish Medical is a full-service medical device design, development, and specialty manufacturing company headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia, with additional offices in Toronto and Irvine, California.
StarFish Medical works with founder-led start-ups and global enterprises across North America that need to navigate the complexity of building and launching regulated medical technologies. The company combines product design and development with quality and regulatory expertise and manufacturing readiness to help teams move from early concept through commercialization and scaled production. Its experience includes diagnostics, drug delivery, surgical, therapy, and remote devices.
Founded in 1999, StarFish Medical has grown into Canada’s largest full-service medical device design, development, and commercialization partner. It operates as part of StarFish Holdings, which also includes ViVitro Labs, a global cardiovascular device testing company with facilities in Victoria and Marseille, France. In 2020, StarFish Medical led a multi-company Canadian team that updated the Winnipeg Ventilator to address COVID-19 supply chain and operational challenges.
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