Would You Want Your Kids To Become Medtech Professionals? (Reader Opinion)

The medtech industry and indeed the overall healthcare sector is in the middle of convulsive change.

The Affordable Care Act, globalization, pricing pressures, lower utilization, regulatory uncertainty, lack of capital and other factors have contributed to a slowing industry with attendant job insecurity. Thousands have been laid off and the trend continues.

You’ve been in the medtech industry for years - as an R&D engineer, as a sales rep, as a reimbursement consultant, as a senior executive, as a startup entrepreneur. You were inspired by the possibility of creating innovative products that saved or sustained people’s lives and glad to be part of an innovative American industry, not to mention one that paid quite well.

But given the aforementioned headwinds, would you want your kids to enter this industry? Would they be able to continue to create innovative products or be hampered by cost considerations and data requirements that you didn’t have to contend with as much.

Here are reasons why you should: 

Global population is now the healthcare customer
        Globalization may be contributing to offshoring of manufacturing jobs and even R&D jobs in medtech, but it has also created billions of new medtech customers hungry for the next innovative product that can solve problems of access, affordability and quality of care worldwide. The markets are no longer just Europe and Japan, but also Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRICs) and Mexico Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey as well as the southeast Asian nations that make up the ASEAN countries.
        Here is an example of innovation for those global markets that found itself way to America’s shores too. Innovative minds at GE were eager to help patients in rural India get electrocardiograms where clinics couldn’t afford to buy or drag around expensive ECG equipment used in the U.S. GE came up with a bare bones, handheld ultrasound device for roughly $1,000.

Convergence is Leading to New Medical Devices
        The very definition of a medical device is changing. What an exciting time
for the industry when companies like Organovo are using 3D bioprinting to create functional tissue that can be used for to revolutionize drug development, to heal wounds quickly and one day used to create functional human organs.
        What an exciting time for an industry when  a sensor can be ingested that can tell doctors whether patients are taking medication regularly and how drugs are affecting the body.
        What an exciting time for the industry when an add-on device to consumer devices like iPhone can tell a patient’s ECG.

Collaboration Can Help to Create A Stronger Healthcare System
        Medtech products have been largely used and consumed inside the hospital. But powered by wireless communication, digital devices and driven by a desire to manage patient population, medical device companies are using remote monitoring tools to penetrate patient’s homes helping them to age in place, remain at home healthier and longer without having to seek care in emergency setting.
        By partnering with payors and providers who are equally driven to manage the health of patient populations, the medtech industry can help to create an improved and stronger healthcare system.

Do you agree? And would these be some of the reasons you would encourage your children to enter the industry? If not, why not? We would love to hear your take on this. Share your thoughts using the Twitter widget below using the hashtag #medtechkids or if you don’t have Twitter, simply use the comments section to share your thoughts.

[Photo Credit: iStockphoto.com user sampsyseeds]

-- By Arundhati Parmar, Senior Editor, MD+DI
[email protected]