Q&A: AdvaMed’s Scott Whitaker on Partnering, Advocacy, and the Medtech Policy Year Ahead

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ARTICLE SUMMARY:

Market Pathways interviews the AdvaMed CEO about how the pandemic has strengthened government-industry collaboration, and what’s ahead at CMS, FDA, and Congress.

“We were forced to collaborate with such speed and collective work, and collective passion, and the results were very good. That’s going to shape how we think about public policy...from this point on.”

Scott Whitaker, president and CEO of AdvaMed, didn’t have “respond to a global pandemic” on his five-year strategy plan when he took the helm of the powerful device industry trade association in 2016. The unexpected challenges have been steep, with the sector he represents at the center of the pandemic narrative. But Whitaker has been heartened by industry’s ability to rally to the challenge. And he believes that his work, the work of government advocacy, has been strengthened by the experience. The need for industry to work with policymakers in new ways to achieve quicker action in response to the emergency has enhanced appreciation for productive partnerships on both sides, he says. He thinks that dynamic will be lasting, beyond pandemic policies.

More productive government-industry partnerships would certainly help the device industry’s DC representatives with what they will face over the next months, and year—starting from square one following CMS’ recent repeal of the Medicare Coverage of Innovative Technology program, bringing challenging user-fee negotiations with FDA to a close, and engaging in what could be a very active congressional session for medtech in the mix of election-year politics.

Whitaker spoke about these issues and more with Executive Editor David Filmore on a recent episode of the Market Pathways’ Podcast. Here are sections of that conversation, edited for clarity and flow.

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