Medical technology

Medical technology is a part of the Health technology which encompasses a wide range of health care products and, in two form or another, is used to diagnose, monitor or treat every disease or condition that affects humans. These innovative technologies (application of science and technology) are improving the quality of health care delivered and patient outcomes through earlier diagnosis, less invasive treatment options and reductions in hospital stays and rehabilitation times.

Health technology is:

Any intervention that may be used to promote health, to prevent, diagnose or treat disease or for rehabilitation or long-term care. This includes the pharmaceuticals, devices, procedures and organizational systems used in health care.

Definition

{{Quote|Medical technology extend and improves life. It alleviates pain, injury and handicap. Its role in healthcare is essential. Incessant medical technology innovation enhances the quality and effectiveness of care. Billions of patients worldwide depend on medical technology at home, at the doctor’s, at hospital and in nursing homes. Wheelchairs, pacemakers, orthopedic shoes, spectacles and contact lenses, insulin pens, hip prostheses, condoms, oxygen masks, dental floss, MRI scanners, pregnancy tests, surgical instruments, bandages, syringes, life-support machines: more than 500,000 products (10,000 generic groups) are available today. Medical technology represents only 6,3% of total healthcare expenditure in Europe - a modest share if you consider the benefits for every member of society.| EUCOMED.}

Allied health profession

The term Medical technology may also refer to the duties performed by clinical laboratory professionals in various settings within the public and private sectors. The work of these professionals encompass clinical applications of chemistry, genetics, hematology, immunohematology (blood banking), immunology, microbiology, serology, urinalysis and miscellaneous body fluid analysis. These professionals may be referred to as Medical Technologists (MT) and Medical Laboratory Technicians (MLT) or as Clinical Laboratory Scientists (CLS) and Clinical Laboratory Technicians (CLT) depending on education, certification and/or licensure. The term medical technologist in this sense is sometimes considered a misnomer due to the fact that these professionals do not actually produce novel medical technology but rather apply the ones already in place in conjunction with the knowledge of the scientific principles of clinical laboratory science, which has been considered a more appropriate term for the discipline.

(source:bloomberg.com)

Boston Scientific spent $490,000 lobbying in 3Q

WASHINGTON (Lobbying Activist) — Medical device maker Boston Scientific Corp. spent $490,000 in the third quarter to lobby the federal government on the recently passed health reform law as well as other health care-related matters.

The Natick, Mass.-based company's lobbying budget was up slightly from the $480,000 it spent in the second quarter and the prior-year period.

Boston Scientific lobbied on details of the health care bill signed into law in March, which calls on medical device makers to pay between $2 billion and $3 billion in fees per year to fund the expansion of health care coverage. The implementation of some items is still being worked out.

While industry executives have complained about the fees, Democratic lawmakers say that device companies will benefit from health care reform as more patients are eligible to get their products.

Boston Scientific also lobbied on a provision that requires drug and medical device manufacturers to disclose gifts given to physicians by their salespeople. The legislation aims to curb corporate influence over medicine.

Boston Scientific, which makes heart-pacing devices and surgical implants, also lobbied on bills that would task a federally-sponsored panel with comparing the effectiveness of different drugs, devices and medical procedures. The effort aims to cut wasteful spending on ineffective treatments. The medical device industry and others have maintained that any government assessments should not be used to deny coverage of expensive medical technology.

Company representatives also lobbied on corporate taxation and labor issues.

Along with Congress, the company lobbied the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Transportation, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other agencies, according to a form filed Oct. 18 with the House clerk's office.

(source:bloomberg.com)

Brussels lobby firm hires former Monsanto chair as partner

Brussels-based EU lobbying firm Alber & Geiger has hired the former chairman of agricultural biotechnology company Monsanto chairman Bernard Auxenfans.


Auxenfans has joined Alber & Geiger as a partner and will concentrate on lobbying on food and agricultural issues, according to the firm.

“We’re very proud of this latest top acquisition for our team,” said Alber & Geiger chairman Siegbert Alber.

Monsanto is known as one of the leading producers of genetically engineered seeds.

Alber & Geiger was formed from a team of lawyers who split from lobbyists Cassidy & Associates in March 2007, and is led by Alber, the former Advocate General of the European Court of Justice, and Andreas Geiger (16 April 2007).

The firm recently represented web browser Flock in a European Commission antitrust case against Microsoft (17 December 2009).

Source:thelawyer.com/

Pa. Casino Group Says Its Activity Wasn't Lobbying

A casino trade association headed by a former state Supreme Court chief justice rebutted a lawmaker's criticism by saying that it doesn't have to register under Pennsylvania's lobbying-disclosure law because its activities don't meet the legal definition of lobbying.

House Gaming Oversight Committee Chairman Dante Santoni, D-Berks, had posed questions about the Pennsylvania Casino Association and its activities surrounding a bill that would expand casino gambling.

Santoni said Monday that he was still reading through the group's Dec. 1 letter and was considering whether to hold a hearing on the matter.

"I want to check with some legal minds first on the lobbying issue to see whether we should go forward," Santoni said.

House and Senate negotiators are still trying to work out the remaining differences in a bill to legalize table games such as poker and blackjack at slot-machine casinos and to expand the number of slot machines at smaller resort casinos.

Proponents say expanding gambling is a less painful alternative to raising taxes to shore up the state's recession-ravaged treasury. Opponents, however, say the measure is a favor for the powerful gambling industry.

According to the casino association's letter, it sent three e-mails to lawmakers about pending legislation and paid for a radio ad that warned that a state tax above 12 percent on table games would mean fewer jobs and higher taxes for state residents.

Including employee compensation, the e-mails cost less than $500 to send, well within the exemption for registering and reporting in the state's lobbying disclosure law, association board member Richard Sprague wrote in the letter. The threshold is $2,500 per quarter.

Also, the radio ad did not address an actual piece of legislation and did not ask listeners to contact legislators, wrote Sprague, who is an investor in the SugarHouse Casino project in Philadelphia. The letter did not say how much the association paid for the radio ad.

Source:abcnews.go.com/

A divided Statehouse may be a boon to lobbyists

Dale J. Florio, a lobbyist and founder of Princeton Public Affairs Group, stands in front of the Statehouse in Trenton. [Christina Mazza]
Lobbyist Clark Martin, president of MBI-GluckShaw, sees a new administration in Trenton as an opportunity to advance his clients’ causes and to build relationships.
“It’s an exciting time for people on West State Street,” Martin said.

He’s not alone: Trenton’s lobbying community is beginning to learn new faces and rekindle old contacts. Some of the state’s leading lobbyists said there will be benefits from having a divided government, where there will be at least two opportunities to affect legislation.

Martin said Republican Gov.-elect Chris Christie could veto bills passed by the Legislature, which maintains a Democratic majority in both houses. “It does give a lobbyist one additional chance” to lobby for a veto, Martin said.

Dale J. Florio, a lobbyist and founder of Princeton Public Affairs Group, said a divided government makes it easier to stop legislation because there are more opportunities for lobbying. “If you’re trying to pass a particular bill, you’re going to have your work cut out for you.”

Florio said he expects the business community to fare well in lobbying Christie’s administration, which is focusing on job growth in the private sector.

Lobbyist Roger A. Bodman, of Public Strategies Impact, however, is skeptical that party affiliation will make much of a difference to lobbying when the new administration begins.

Bodman is more interested in the rules that Christie could establish for lobbyists once he enters office. “There are all kinds of unknowns,” Bodman said, adding that he believes it is a positive sign that Christie was an “equal-opportunity prosecutor” as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.

Jonathan Holt, of Holt & Germann Public Affairs LLC, also sees more opportunities to bring his clients in front of people with a divided government.

Holt said the partisan change shouldn’t be too important to lobbying, since lobbying techniques remain the same: represent your clients and bring facts to the attention of officials.

While the party doesn’t matter, it does matter that the officials are new, Holt said. Also, decisions that have been made at a party level for the past eight years now must be negotiated.

“There’s going to be more opportunity for open discussion, open debate,” Holt said.

Martin said his firm has made building bipartisan ties central to its growth over the past decade. Along with political diversity, the firm also has built diversity in its members’ ages, races and genders, Martin said.

Bill Caruso, Assembly Democratic executive director, said the legislative branch will remain important to lobbyists as the initiator of news, laws and the place where they will “at least start their efforts.”

Rick Wright, Caruso’s Republican counterpart, said business lobbyists should be happy with Christie’s election, noting that he highlighted the importance of improving the business climate in his campaign.

Certain industries are in a strong position because their agendas line up with Christie’s, said Arthur Maurice, senior vice president of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association. For example, he said manufacturers share Christie’s interest in reducing regulation.

Maurice recalled the lobbying atmosphere in Trenton in the 1980s, when then-Gov. Thomas H. Kean faced a Democratic Senate and, for his first term, a Democratic Assembly.

Source:njbiz.com/