DÜSSELDORF, Germany — Just as a great chess game can begin with the advance of a modest pawn, the CEO of Welch Allyn (Skaneateles Falls, New York), Julie Shimer rolled forward the new CP 50, a transportable electrocardiograph (ECG) that represents the leading edge of the company's ambitious plans for international expansion.

"We have been working in Europe for 35 years," said Shimer, "yet this is the first product we have designed exclusively for the specific needs of the European market."

To this point the privately held Welch Allyn has been a traditional American player in international markets.

"Up to now products have been developed for the American market and then sold in other markets with similar needs," Shimer explained.

"In recent years we have shifted from this U.S.-centric focus and have become more open to Europe especially in our product development," she told Medical Device Daily.

Encouraging this strategy are the strong numbers, she said, explaining that while Europe currently is one-fourth the size of the U.S. business, "it is growing at a much faster rate, nearly twice the growth rate in the American market."

Growth in Europe is driven by a two-fold strategy centered on products and management, she said.

"I love our European team, which is very enthusiastic," she said, crediting the group with maintaining a strong presence in hospitals.

On the product side, Welch Allyn reaches across a broad range of product categories, perhaps too far, she suggests, yet at the same time the wide offering is fueling the growth with increases over the full range.

CEO Shimer said she is also actively seeking out opportunities for acquisitions, "not to expand out product categories any further, but to create access to new markets or else to create depth in the categories we already have."

The new CP 50 ECG unit was developed by Welch Allyn specifically to meet emerging needs in the European market and Shimer said there are not any plans at this point to bring the unit into the U.S. market, that she said is not quite ready for the same features for connectivity.

"The whole telemedicine concept is much stronger in Europe than the United States," she said, adding "there is not the same demand for remote clinical care and home care in the U.S."

"It is coming in the American market, of course, and in another five years there will quite likely be the same level of sophistication, so that in a sense our European team is helping us to develop products for the future in the U.S.," she said.

"What we have been hearing in Europe is the need to capture patient data in either the general practice or clinical setting so that it can be sent to specialists and shared with other care givers on the patient pathway," Shimer explained.

"There is a higher penetration in Europe of electronic medical records in front line care, driven largely by government-based systems," she said.

"So in Europe customers have an established data structure to feed," said Shimer.

In the U.S., similar Welch Allyn vital signs products like the ECG unit are designed around proprietary software that feeds data to closed health information system, in contrasted to the more open and interoperable platforms in Europe.

As a result European customers require a software development kit that enables them to integrate with their shared health information systems, she said.

With the information transmission capabilities of the CP 50 ECG, Welch Allyn has solved a part of the emerging connectivity continuum, according to Shimer.

"The next generation platform that is now being developed will go even further in addressing segments of this continuum," she said.

Beyond connectivity, competitive advantages for the new CP 50 ECG are that it is lightweight, it's easy to use and it's easy to transport.

"Flexible monitoring units, recording fewer parameters but portable, are very popular in Western Europe," said Shimer, where they are used in home care or palliative settings, for unmonitored hospital beds outside intensive care units or for patient transport.