By: Dan O’Connor
The surgical centers and hospitals that purchased their implants from Access MediQuip will have to find another source for their implantable devices. Last week, the nation’s first and largest provider of outsourced surgical implants closed its doors.
“Access MediQuip is undergoing a corporate restructuring,” says the company in a statement. “As part of this process, our division that focuses on implantable device procurement and management will cease operations.” 
Beacon Device Services, a division of Access MediQuip with 40 employees, is continuing operations, says the company. Beacon specializes in pre-authorization of implantable medical devices for hospitals and surgery centers on behalf of major medical device manufacturers.
Access MediQuip, founded in 1997, let surgical facilities host expensive cases with essentially no financial risk. The company purchased implantable devices such as orthopedic and spinal implants, and implantable drug pumps from the manufacturer, delivered them to the facility and billed the commercial payor for its cost. Surgical facilities were drawn to the service because they didn’t have to worry about whether insurers would reimburse the implants, which often times cost more than the surgery itself. Plus, surgeons were happy because they could use implants of their choice.