Washington, D.C. –   Today, AdvaMed, the Medtech Association, the largest global trade organization representing medical technology companies, released its “Medical Innovation Agenda for the 119th Congress.” These policy priorities would advance AdvaMed’s goal to usher in a new era of health care innovation on behalf of all American patients, promoting access to the latest lifesaving technologies. 

“In 2022, I said we were in the golden age of medical technology innovation. That is truer today than it was then. What’s more, we have the opportunity to work together to ensure that when history looks back on this era, people will call it the platinum age of medical technology innovation,” AdvaMed President and CEO Scott Whitaker wrote in his opening letter to Congress introducing the Medical Innovation Agenda.

“That is how quickly our industry is moving: From AI, which is already helping doctors to make more accurate cancer diagnoses, to wearable and implantable technologies that communicate in real time with doctors. From literal tattoos that monitor and transmit vital data to a patient’s care team, to robotic surgeries administered from thousands of miles away.  

“From a policy perspective, how can we best set up our doctors, nurses, and medical technology innovators for success? How can we ensure patients live longer, healthier, and happier lives? What can you do as a champion for patients and medical innovation as a member of Congress, working with us as the Medtech Association? 

“I invite you to read our Medical Innovation Agenda for the 119^th Congress through the eyes of patients. Would these bipartisan policies improve their quality of life, or extend their lives, or even save them? Our view at AdvaMed, the Medtech Association, is that each and every one of them would. And we ask you not only to support them—but to actively promote them.”

The Medical Innovation Agenda includes legislative and policy proposals in the following areas:

• Support the modernization of CMS to strengthen the U.S. position as the global leader in medtech innovation
• Expand patient access to breakthrough medical technologies 
• Ensure tax law keeps pace with medtech innovation 
• Harness the power of AI to improve outcomes and increase patient access to innovative medtech
• Strengthen the U.S. medtech industry’s global leadership position
• Secure American medtech supply chain resilience
• Protect and strengthen the critical role of medical imaging in early diagnosis and patient outcomes  
• Strengthen the regulatory process to ensure the latest medical technologies reach every patient 
• Ensure FDA keeps pace with the speed of medtech innovation 
• Ensure patient access to accurate diagnostic tests 
• Boost next-gen medtech innovation through America’s start-ups

The Medical Innovation Agenda reflects the breadth and variety of medtech, the backbone of the U.S. health care system, and AdvaMed’s recent expansion to encompass the entire industry. AdvaMed’s latest Medical Imaging and Digital Health Tech divisions reflect the prominent role of advanced imaging and digital health products, increasingly AI-enabled, in serving patients and clinicians.

The priorities also reflect the evolving policy needs of rapidly advancing mainstays in medtech-powered diagnoses, treatment, and condition monitoring and management, from in vitro tests to surgical tools to diabetes management systems to radiation therapy. All areas require policy modernization to ensure access to every patient who could benefit from the latest safe, effective medtech.

The policy recommendations supporting small businesses and startups respond to the fact that more than 80 percent of medtech companies fall in that category, often developing a single product that could provide a revolutionary solution for patients but struggling to stay afloat.

Learn more about the specifics of the agenda and how it will benefit American patients, innovation, and the medtech economy here.