It’s time for device makers and suppliers to raise a collective red flag in Washington. That was the message delivered by MDMA’s Tom Novelli at last month’s Medical Silicone Conference in Minneapolis.

Novelli is vice president of government relations at the Medical Device Manufacturers Association. He encouraged his keynote-session audience, comprised of OEMs and suppliers alike, to contact congressmen and senators and voice their concerns over the medical device tax set to begin in 2013 and the cost and time it now takes to gain approval for medical devices.

He told his keynote-session audience that the regulatory environment, the device tax, and other reform-related measures are causing US medtech to be in danger of losing its position as world leader and as one of only two remaining US net-export industries. (The other is commercial aircraft--another disturbing story for others to write.)

For more on Novelli’s session, see Perspectives.  To download any of this year’s MSC presentations, click here. And to weigh in on the “get involved” challenge, please see this month’s Reader Poll.