AdvaMed, Member Company Executives Meet with Semiconductor Industry, Department of Commerce Officials on Chips to Ensure Patient Care Comes First
WASHINGTON – This week, Scott Whitaker, President and CEO of the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), the largest global trade organization representing the medical technology sector, joined a meeting with Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves and members of his Commerce Department team, the Food and Drug Administration supply chain resiliency team, medtech supply chain executives, and semiconductor industry executives to discuss the needs of the health care industry amidst pervasive chips shortages.
This meeting comes on the heels of a recent meeting led by Whitaker with medtech CEOs and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and the recent announcement that AdvaMed’s Abby Pratt was appointed to the Biden Administration’s Joint Supply Chain Resilience Working Group.
“On behalf of the medtech industry, I want to thank both Secretary Raimondo and Deputy Secretary Graves for recognizing the serious supply chain concerns faced by the countless patients our companies serve across the country,” Whitaker said.
Our meeting with Deputy Secretary Graves this week was very productive. These meetings are critical to raising awareness of the potential impact the chips shortage could soon have on patient health if the right steps aren’t taken at the right time to ensure that patient care—from diagnosis to treatment to cure—is prioritized so that it can continue uninterrupted by the semiconductor shortage,” Whitaker said of the meeting. “If we fail to prioritize essential health care technologies, patients will bear the burden, but fortunately, that is something we can avoid by working collaboratively through these meetings and legislative efforts like the Bipartisan Innovation Act, which would strengthen investments in our domestic manufacturing of semiconductor chips. It’s clear from our discussions with Secretary Raimondo and Deputy Secretary Graves and the semiconductor industry that we all understand the importance of prioritizing patients’ needs.”
AdvaMed members’ top priority is ensuring the continuity of patient care. To that end, the organization created a Supply Chain Task Force, which has highlighted several best practices that have emerged during the pandemic amidst supply shortages, such as activating dual sources, building redundancy into their operations (i.e., qualifying alternative parts), redesigning and requalifying product configurations and expanding inventory and factory capacity. In addition, member companies have gone to extreme lengths to communicate deep into their supply chain, often reaching out to their suppliers’ suppliers about the nature and criticality of the technologies for which the chips are destined.