How to Report a Medical Device Problem

What is Medical Device Reporting (MDR)?

Medical Device Reporting (MDR) is the mechanism for the Food and Drug Administration to receive significant medical device adverse events from manufacturers, importers and user facilities, so they can be detected and corrected quickly. If you are a consumer or health professional you should use the nearby link to the MedWatch program for reporting significant adverse events or product problems with medical products.

User Facilities and MDR

User Facilities (e.g., hospitals, nursing homes) are required to report suspected medical device related deaths to both the FDA and the manufacturers. User facilities report medical device related serious injuries only to the manufacturer. If the medical device manufacturer is unknown, the serious injury is reported by the facility to FDA. Health professionals within a user-facility should familiarize themselves with their institution procedures for reporting adverse events to the FDA.
There is a guidance for user facilities, "Medical Device Reporting for User Facilities".  See its nearby link.
Note: Please do not send the actual device to FDA as stated in Block D9 of the MEDWATCH 3500A form. In Block D9 indicate that you are keeping the device or returning it to the manufacturer.

History of MDR Regulation

Legislation requiring device user facility reporting was enacted by Congress to increase the amount of information the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and device manufacturers receive about problems with medical devices. Although manufacturers and importers of medical devices have been required since 1984 to report to FDA all device-related deaths, serious injuries, and certain malfunctions, numerous reports have shown there is widespread underreporting. A 1986 General Accounting Office (GAO) study showed that less than one percent of device problems occurring in hospitals are reported to FDA, and the more serious the problem with a device, the less likely it was to be reported. A GAO followup study in 1989 concluded that despite full implementation of the Medical Device Reporting (MDR) regulation, serious shortcomings still existed.

Under the Safe Medical Devices Act of 1990 (SMDA), device user facilities must report device-related deaths to the FDA and the manufacturer, if known. Device user facilities must also report device-related serious injuries to the manufacturer, or to the FDA if the manufacturer is not known. In addition, SMDA also required that device user facilities submit to FDA, on a semiannual basis, a summary of all reports submitted during that time period. The device user facility reporting section of SMDA became effective on November 28, 1991.

To implement SMDA, FDA published a tentative final rule in the Federal Register on November 26, 1991, and invited comments on the regulation. Over 300 comments were received by FDA. Then, on June 16, 1992, the President signed into law the Medical Devices Amendments of 1992 (Public Law 102-300; the Amendments of 1992), amending certain provisions (section 519 of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act) relating to reporting of adverse events. The primary impact of the 1992 Amendments on device user facility reporting was to clarify certain terms and to establish a single reporting standard for device user facilities, manufacturers, importers, and distributors. A final rule published in the Federal Register on December 11, 1995, addresses the comments received by the FDA and the changes mandated by the Amendments of 1992.

Update on FDAMA

The Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act (FDAMA) was signed on 11/21/97 and became effective on 2/19/98. There were four changes that affected MDR:

• Manufacturers and distributors/importers do not need to submit annual certification.
• Domestic distributors are no longer required to file MDR reports, but must continue to maintain complaint files. [Importers (initial distributors for devices manufactured overseas and imported into the USA) must continue to file MDR reports.]
• User facilities must now file an annual report instead of semiannual reports to summarize their adverse event reports.
• Sentinel reporting by user facilities was proposed.
  The MDR regulation was revised on 1/26/2000 and 5/8/2000 to incorporate the changes under FDAMA

See the nearby link to amendments to the MDR regulation that implemented FDAMA changes, effective March 27, 2000.
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