AdvaMed in Action: IVD in the Spotlight at The MedTech Conference 2025
- Zach Rothstein Executive Director, AdvaMedDx®
The diagnostics industry has reached an inflection point. Regulatory modernization, reimbursement reform, and technological innovation are converging to create unprecedented opportunities for transformation. For IVD leaders navigating this landscape, strategic engagement has never been more critical.
This October 5–8 in San Diego, the AdvaMedDx team and I will facilitate critical discussions that will shape the trajectory of our industry at The MedTech Conference.
Q: What is The MedTech Conference — and who attends?
A: The MedTech Conference is the must-attend global gathering for medtech, bringing together more than 3,500 leaders from across the ecosystem. For IVD companies, it provides unparalleled access to C-suite leaders, institutional investors, regulatory officials, payers, and patient advocacy groups — all in one place.
What distinguishes this event is the convergence of diverse stakeholders. Policy makers, payment experts, and patient representatives engage directly with industry innovators, creating a platform where diagnostics companies can elevate their visibility, expand strategic networks, and shape critical policy discussions.
Q: Why should diagnostics companies prioritize this event?
A: The conference addresses the fundamental challenges facing our industry head-on. From regulatory modernization to reimbursement reform, the discussions here will shape how diagnostic innovations reach patients and create value across the health care ecosystem.
For AdvaMedDx members, this represents the culmination of our advocacy efforts — translating months of policy engagement into substantive dialogue with key stakeholders. With strategic partners and investors participating, diagnostics companies gain both visibility and influence in shaping industry priorities.
Q: What are the key themes of the In Vitro Diagnostic Test & Technologies track this year?
A: This year’s agenda focuses on the intersection of innovation, policy, and patient access. We’ve structured the program around five themes:
- Diagnostic Innovation & Scientific Advances — merging technologies and methodologies transforming test development and delivery.
- Accelerating Access to Reliable and Accurate Testing — Strategies to expedite the path from laboratory to patient care.
- Policy & Regulatory Alignment for Diagnostics — Frameworks supporting efficient approval pathways and appropriate reimbursement.
- Clinical Integration & Adoption — Optimizing diagnostic utilization to improve patient outcomes and demonstrate clinical value.
- Stakeholder Collaboration — Building coalitions among patient advocates, policymakers, payers, and innovators to advance the diagnostics agenda.
Q: What are you most excited about in 2025?
A: The diagnostics sector is experiencing unprecedented recognition of its strategic importance to healthcare delivery. We’re seeing breakthrough technologies — from multi-cancer early detection tests to AI-enabled diagnostic algorithms — fundamentally reshaping how clinicians make treatment decisions. Cell-free DNA testing, next-generation sequencing, and point-of-care molecular diagnostics are moving from promise to practice at remarkable speed.
Equally significant is the shift in how policymakers and healthcare leaders view diagnostics. Testing now drives 70% of clinical decisions, yet represents less than 3% of healthcare spending — a value proposition that’s finally gaining the attention it deserves. The COVID-19 pandemic crystallized the critical role of diagnostics in public health, and that awareness is translating into substantive policy discussions around regulatory modernization, reimbursement reform, and innovation incentives.
Q: What is the Medtech Campus and why should diagnostics leaders prioritize it?
A: The Medtech Campus serves as the conference’s central hub — the nexus where strategic partnerships form and innovation takes center stage. For diagnostics executives, it offers the most efficient platform for relationship building, brand positioning, and technology exploration.
The Patient Advocacy Pavilion provides critical perspective on the human impact of diagnostics, ensuring policy discussions remain grounded in patient needs. The Tech in Motion exhibit at the AdvaMed booth showcases practical applications of emerging technologies through live demonstrations from. On top of that, major diagnostics companies will showcase their latest innovations, providing insight into market-leading technologies and strategic directions. These face-to-face interactions create opportunities that virtual engagement simply cannot replicate.
Q: What sessions and speakers are most critical for IVD companies at this time?
A: AdvaMedDx has been hard at work curating a program that reflects the priorities of diagnostics companies and the broader IVD community — bringing together policymakers, patient advocates, and industry leaders to tackle the issues that matter most.
A highlight will be “Forging Alliances: MedTech, Patient Advocacy, and the Future of Policy,” where Bobby Patrick (AdvaMed) will join patient advocacy leaders and diagnostics experts to examine how strategic collaboration can accelerate regulatory modernization, improve market access, and advance policies that recognize diagnostics’ full value proposition.
The AdvaMedDx Town Hall will provide a comprehensive update on board-level priorities. During this session, we’ll discuss regulatory, payment and legislative issues most central to our advocacy efforts.
Together, these sessions give diagnostics innovators unparalleled access to the policy dialogue, the advocacy agenda, and the people who are driving change for our field.
Q: Final thoughts — why attend?
A: The MedTech Conference represents more than an industry gathering — it’s where the diagnostics community demonstrates its collective strength and strategic vision. It’s the singular venue where innovators, advocates, and policymakers converge not merely to discuss our future, but to actively shape it.
For AdvaMedDx members, this conference showcases your advocacy investment in action. The policy advances we’ve achieved will be prominently featured, and the discussions in San Diego will establish priorities for the next phase of our work.
If you’re committed to having a voice in the decisions that will define diagnostics for the coming years, this conference is essential.
Zach Rothstein
Executive Director, AdvaMedDx
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