AdvaMed® in Action: A New Chapter for Digital Health Tech at #MTC26

I recently stepped into my new role as Executive Director of AdvaMed Digital Health Tech at an incredibly dynamic moment for our industry.

Digital health is no longer one corner of medtech. Connected devices, software, data, AI, cybersecurity, and entirely new models of care are increasingly woven into how technologies are developed, how clinicians work, and how patients experience care.

My background at AdvaMed has been deeply rooted in coverage, payment, and health care delivery policy, and that experience shapes how I think about the opportunity ahead. Innovation is critical—but our work cannot stop at invention. We also need an environment where safe, effective digital technologies can be adopted, integrated into care, and ultimately reach the patients who can benefit from them.

That is a major focus for AdvaMed Digital Health Tech, and it is one reason I am particularly excited about the conversations coming to The MedTech Conference, October 18–21 in Boston.

Q: What is AdvaMed Digital Health Tech focused on?

A: Our goal is to help build the policy environment that allows digital health innovation to deliver on its potential for patients.

AdvaMed Digital Health Tech’s work spans four interconnected areas: regulation; payment and health care delivery; data access and stewardship; and cybersecurity. Increasingly, progress in one depends on progress in all four.  Groundbreaking technologies still need a clear regulatory pathway. Providers need confidence that adoption is sustainable. Data needs to be accessible and used responsibly. And connected technologies need strong, resilient cybersecurity.

Payment and access will continue to be an especially important part of that conversation. AdvaMed has been advocating for greater clarity and predictability around Medicare coverage and payment for software, AI, and other digital health technologies, because innovation can only improve care when patients and providers can actually access it.

What excites me most is these are no longer theoretical conversations. Companies are deploying these technologies today. That makes collaboration among medtech, technology companies, policy leaders, providers, payers, and patients more important than ever, and the MedTech Conference brings us together to ideate, collaborate, and maybe even solve for some of health care’s biggest problems.

Q: How will those priorities show up at #MTC26?

A: Everywhere.

One of the things I like most about this year’s program is that digital health is both a dedicated area of education and a throughline across the conference.

Look at the range of conversations already on the agenda:

• DHT Signal: An AdvaMed Digital Health Tech Town Hall will bring together industry leaders serving on AdvaMed’s Digital Health Tech Board for an interactive town hall discussion on the most pressing policy and advocacy issues facing the future of digital health and AI.

• From Data to Decisions: How Longitudinal Insights Enable Smarter Patient Care, leaders from Philips, WHOOP, NYU Langone, and the CMS Innovation Center will examine how continuous health data can translate into smarter, more informed care.
  
• Connected Implants: The Next Frontier in Patient Care and Empowerment brings together Edwards Lifesciences, Synchron, and Canary Medical to explore how connectivity is changing what is possible after a device is implanted—and what that can mean for patients, clinicians, and the data connecting them.

Then there is the question of getting innovation into practice. From Innovation to Implementation: Integrating AI with CPT, and Payer Perspectives brings together experts from Medtronic, the American Medical Association, Frank Healthcare Advisors, and the AMA RVS Update Committee to get into the practical realities of coding, payment, and adoption for these technologies.

And as technology becomes more embedded across medtech businesses, the infrastructure around it matters just as much. Equipping Legal and Compliance Programs for the Digital Future of MedTech will bring Boston Scientific, Baxter Healthcare, Cook Medical and Faegre Drinker into a conversation spanning privacy, AI, and cybersecurity.

That range is important. Digital health is not about the newest algorithm or device. It touches the entire path from development to adoption—and the #MTC26 program reflects that.

Q: What feels different about the program this year?

A: There are more ways to engage with the technology and the people behind it.

We begin Sunday with Medtech Frontier AI Day, a Microsoft-sponsored half-day program focused on moving AI from innovation to real-world impact across the medtech enterprise. The program will dig into responsible governance and workforce readiness, intelligent connected care, commercial engagement, product innovation, and market access.

Google is also bringing Build with Gemini, a hands-on workshop where business leaders can learn to build, implement, and scale autonomous AI agents across their organizations (RSVP required).

We’re also expanding on previous successes through the Next Gen Medtech Program. This opportunity—designed for undergraduates, graduate, and PhD students, recent graduated, and early-career professionals—provides participants an opportunity to connect with peers, engage with industry professionals, attend career-focused discussions, and gain firsthand insight into the skills and experiences that contribute to success in the field.

Our DHT Board Chair Robert Cohen (Vice President, Innovation and Technology, Orthopaedic Group at Stryker), will also lead judging on the second iteration of the NextGen Innovation Robotics Challenge, an immersive, one-day engineering competition focused on personalized surgery and healthcare innovation. This hands-on experience is designed to strengthen problem-solving, collaboration, and innovation skills while demonstrating the real-world impact of medtech – I encourage any students interested in engineering, artificial intelligence, robotics, or healthcare innovation to consider applying!

And the technology conversation extends far beyond AI. Across the conference, we’re bringing together medical technology companies, technology leaders, health systems, policy leaders, start-ups and other partners who approach digital health from very different angles. This mix is where some of the most useful conversations happen, and I’m excited to see where we can go as this digital health ecosystem continues to evolve.

Q: Where should attendees look beyond the education rooms?

A: Make time for the Medtech Campus.

Some of the most exciting technology at this conference will not be contained in a panel discussion. BD, Butterfly Network, Dexcom, Edwards Lifesciences, Philips, iRhythm, Solventum, and Stryker are among the companies bringing technology to the Tech in Motion Hub, where you can experience medtech innovation firsthand through live technology demonstrations.

There are also a lot of new names joining the Campus this year. First-time exhibitors include companies such as HCLTech, Health-ISAC, i-GENTIC AI, myQMS.ai, Red Balloon Security, and TENNR. This list alone demonstrates how much the digital-health ecosystem has expanded: medical devices, enterprise technology, cybersecurity, AI, workflow optimization, and infrastructure are increasingly part of the same conversation.

They join a much broader #MTC26 community that already includes companies such as Abbott, BD, Boston Scientific, Dexcom, Edwards Lifesciences, GE HealthCare, Johnson & Johnson MedTech, Medtronic, Philips, Resmed, Siemens Healthineers, Solventum, Stryker, Zimmer Biomet, ZOLL, and many more.

My advice: don’t just move from session to session. Plan a few hours to walk the Campus. Earmark and talk to a company you haven’t met before. See the technology first-hand. Ask how people are solving a problem differently, and see how that influences your own approach to problem-solving. The MedTech Conference is about bringing people together, and the Campus’ structure empowers participants to expand their exposure and experience beyond the learning opportunities of panels. I look forward to meeting folks out on the Campus floor!

Q: What about early-stage innovation?

A: This may be one of the best reasons to come.

The 2026 MedTech Innovator cohort includes 65 early- and mid-stage medical device, diagnostic, and digital health companies selected from more than 1,800 applicants. At #MTC26, attendees can see these companies through sector-based showcase sessions, connect with them through 1:1 partnering, and ultimately help choose the MedTech Innovator 2026 winner during the Finals Tuesday, October 20.

We’re also excited to bring back our wildly successful Pitch & Pour Start-Up Pitch Competition and Happy Hour on Sunday, October 18 where we put 12 early-stage companies focused on military health in front of investors, strategics, and industry decision-makers. Each company gets eight minutes—five to pitch and three for Q&A. This year’s competitors range from wearable trauma-care technologies and rapid diagnostics to smart emergency triage, predictive clinical intelligence, and next-generation wound care.

That is exactly the kind of contrast I love about The MedTech Conference – you can hear from a global company scaling technology across health systems, then turn around and meet a founder working to bring an entirely new solution to market.

Q: What are you personally looking forward to in Boston?

A: The conversations between the conversations.

I’m excited about the panel sessions, but our community is at its best when people with different perspectives have the opportunity to work through difficult questions together.

How do we create regulatory approaches that keep pace with technology while protecting patients? How do we modernize payment systems built for a different era of medicine? How do we unlock the value of health data responsibly? How do we keep increasingly connected technology secure? And how do we make sure innovation translates into better care rather than simply more technology?

Those are priorities my team and I will continue working on long after we leave Boston.

But for four days in October, many of the people who can help answer them will be in one place.

If you are building, investing in, regulating, paying for, adopting or partnering around digital health technology, The MedTech Conference is where you want to be.

I hope you’ll join me in Boston!