What are some of the growing trends and unmet needs in the orthopedics market? If you’re a surgeon, just how do you convince the CEO of a hospital to invest in these technologies?

During MDM East, held in New York from June 12-14,  Michael Levy, MD will be a part of two panels that will touch on some of these subjects. The panels are titled “Prominent Physicians Address Unmet Needs in Orthopedics” and “Selling Your Idea to Upper Management.”

Levy is an expert in the field and has been involved in orthopedics for 34 years including basic research, orthopedic product development, and clinical practice. He is Board Certified in Orthopedics. Dr. Levy is in his 13th year in private practice, and currently is a partner at Orthopedic & Neurosurgical Specialists in Haddonfield, NJ.He worked as a Product Development Engineer at Howmedica (a division of Pfizer) in Rutherford, NJ. He holds two orthopedic design patents.

There are many unmet needs in Orthopedics today,” Levy told MD+DI. “ Some of the unmet needs are related to materials, there needs to be lighter and stronger materials for Trauma fracture fixation. On the Total joint arthroplasty side there needs to be solutions for revisions in patients which have metal sensitivities. There are unmet needs for soft tissue allograft tendons and bone substitutes.”

Levy said that orthopedics products sometimes don’t have the hype surrounding them that devices in other spaces might have. He said trying to communicate an idea about a product to the hospital’s CEO or to upper management can be quite daunting at times.

“There’s always a concern if the new topic or the new idea is going to be well received,” Levi said. “And my concern is where this product will be found in the market place. Orthopedics in general is very low tech, and it takes a lot to bring a new product in. It’s not as fast-paced in moving as a high tech electronic type product might be.”

He pointed out  there are some key pointers when speaking with a hospital CEO about investing in an innovation or technology.

“You always have to have a clinical problem,” he said. “You have to start with kind of putting yourself or the people who are selling to you and listening to you, in the moment of needing a solution to a clinical problem. In a sense you have to be a salesman – you have to pitch- we have a problem, do we have a solution?”