It was great to have our Board chair, GE HealthCare's Peter J Arduini, and Board members Geoff Martha of Medtronic and Boston Scientific's Mike Mahoney lead a number of critical conversations around the Hill and with Administration officials last week on the issues facing our?industry. Their voices, their unique perspectives as business leaders, the stories of their companies’ lifesaving medical technologies, their respective success stories as U.S. manufacturers … all of it adds crucial color to the policies and legislative proposals necessary to ensure the no. 1 #medtech?industry?in?the world can continue to meet patients’ needs and maintain?its global leadership role.
We spoke with health care leaders?in?the Senate, with leadership at the U.S. Trade Representative and CMS, and with White House officials on a range of topics. The conversations were positive, and our message was clear:
We must be careful with tariffs and the impact they could have on the health care supply chain?as well as U.S. manufacturing,?innovation and jobs, not to mention the possibility that they may actually put other global players at a comparative advantage over the U.S. medtech?industry.
We also shared with CMS two of our top priorities. The first is to significantly expand the Biden administration’s Transitional Coverage of Emerging Technologies (TCET) policy to look a lot more like the Medicare Coverage of Innovative Technologies (MCIT) policy implemented by the first Trump administration. Our view is simple: There really is no need for Medicare to stand?in?the way of its beneficiaries’ access to FDA-approved “breakthrough” medical technologies if their doctors believe those technologies could help alleviate their suffering. We feel good about the bipartisan support in Congress for this policy that will both transform patients’ lives and make our government more effective and efficient.
Our second priority at CMS is that the agency struggles to keep pace with our?industry and even the FDA that regulates it—and that really needs to change … dramatically. It is time to streamline and improve the CMS decision-making process so that it is at least as efficient, transparent, and predictable as the FDA review process. Medicare and Medicaid patients deserve as much.
Thank you to the officials and staff who met with us, and thank you, Pete, Geoff, and Mike, for prioritizing these meetings and making this?happen. Your leadership is critical to our advocacy on our industry's behalf?in?Washington and around the world.
