Reuse Recycle Refurbish applied to the healthcare industry

Providing medical care to individuals is the foundation of the Health industry.

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However, it might be more and more difficult for hospitals to balance the treatment efficiency, the quality of provided care and the increasing healthcare costs.

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Facing the challenges of specific regulations per country and various organizations, some financing solutions emerge to enter the healthcare market with As-A-Service offers targeting customers such as medical centers, clinics, imaging centers, laboratories, veterinarians and health professionals.

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As previously mentioned in Black Winch’s White Paper “As-A-Service & Circular Economy: Connecting the dots”, entering the As-A-Service journey is directly related to the Circular Economy benefits.

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Whereas strict regulations define the manufacturing/recycling of medical equipment, some circular business models are applied to eligible assets thanks to a precise classification of Medical Devices.

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Because manufacturers use high-quality materials, such as metals, plastics or both combined to produce very safe and performant medical devices, there are great opportunities for reusing, refurbishing or recycling these devices rather than sending them to landfills or for incineration.

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What the assets become at the end of term is therefore highly valuable. There is a market for Recycling, Refurbishing, Remarketing medical equipment.

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This WP aims at diving into this entire ecosystem, covering both US and Europe legislations, and tackling:

• The Healthcare market,
• The regulations sustaining the medical equipment manufacturing and refurbishment industries,
• The eligibility of Medical devices for As-A-Service journey,
• The end of use solutions 

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