The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has touched every facet of the medtech industry. Sales dropped for many orthopedic firms that manufacture orthopedic implants because cancelled/postponed elective surgeries stifled the need for these devices. Meanwhile, companies manufacturing face masks, ventilators, and diagnostic tests have suddenly found these businesses booming thanks to the excessive need for these technologies. The medical device supply chain has also been complicated as Chinese-sourced components and materials became scarce or unavailable for many manufacturers.

The pandemic has significantly affected the medical device workforce as well. Many employees found themselves furloughed or laid off due to budget cuts made to curtail financial losses. Employees have been forced to adjust to remote work schedules, increased levels of infection control, and company policy changes.

“COVID-19 has changed everything,” commented a respondent to MPO’s salary survey, which featured responses from 150 participants across the medical device industry. “We are doing what we can from home, but getting back to the office and keeping up with our competition or going above and beyond is getting difficult.”

For many, the work itself hasn’t changed, but the work environment has significantly shifted. In-person meetings, events, and conferences came to a screeching halt and were replaced by virtual events.

“Client work has remained consistent,” commented one respondent. “But relationship building has been challenged and we have shifted our marketing spend from conferences and in-person events to more digital presence and outreach.”

“I spend a great deal of time on the phone and webinars,” said another. “I’ve had no face-to-face meetings with clients or regulators since the start of the pandemic.”

Since the outsourced services market follows the OEM device market, outsourcing service providers depend on cues from their OEM customers to determine their best course of action. The problem with the current market, however, is that no one’s sure about anything.

“Our OEM customers are still unsure how 2021 will be affected by this COVID-19 pandemic,” noted one respondent.

“Live symposia and related events have all gone virtual,” stated another. “Travel is significantly curtailed. Customers are understandably ‘uneasy’ about future purchase commitments.”

One participant expressed concern about “all the money going to the COVID virus and none [being] left for other areas of the industry.” Manufacturers of PPE, ventilators, diagnostic tests, and remote care solutions have found themselves with ample business in those sectors. Unfortunately, funding for non-essential areas dried up as the pandemic raged on.

The pandemic reached into medtech employees’ bank accounts as well.

Last year, 38.2 percent of 131 respondents surveyed indicated they hadn’t received or did not expect to receive a raise. This year, that percentage jumped to over half (52.7 percent) of MPO’s 150 respondents. Interestingly, however, the amount of employees receiving 10 percent or higher salary bumps grew from 6.1 percent in 2019 to 9.3 percent this year.

Whether they’re being paid more to do it or not, medtech employees are suddenly finding themselves under a great deal more strain. One respondent noted he is “wearing more hats due to revenue down and [management] not replacing open positions.”

“With the pandemic, the company fired some employees and those who stayed in the company had to perform other tasks outside the original scope of work,” added another.

Wearing more hats doesn’t just overwork employees due to the sheer volume of tasks—they are also suddenly expected to take on new roles and take on aspects of projects beyond their expertise, making an already chaotic atmosphere worse.

“[Some have] additional tasks and not a very clear line of responsibilities,” a survey participant explained. “Some have new overlapping elements, which cause confusion.”

“With reduced headcounts we needed to make sure we all took on additional responsibilities and really focused on better process efficiencies,” added another.

One participant expressed concern that “during COVID-19, [there is] opportunity for unregistered companies to scam people and businesses.”

Though not an unregistered company, something to this effect occurred in April when newly-formed firm Bodysphere claimed it would distribute the first FDA authorized coronavirus antibody test, which promised to spot current and past infections within two minutes with a small amount of blood. Reputable news outlets like Reuters and Axios—and MPO, for that matter—were fooled. A Bodysphere spokesperson even maintained to CNN up until the day before it retracted that it had received authorization. CEO Charlton Lui told CNN the next day that his firm “mistakenly believed” it had received the authorization “in the rush” to deliver tests, blaming a misunderstanding on paperwork. But the damage was done as many scrambled to access the tests based on the false claims.

Moving away from the pandemic, one respondent noted concerns that seem to come up every year, stating “[the] impact of EU MDR, lack of harmonization across regulatory approaches, [and] lack of coordination with [the] drug industry” were issues currently plaguing the medical device industry. (No surprises there.)

Another respondent cited an event that occurs every four years and will be taking place quite soon—the presidential election. Certainly the “outcome of the election, along with business environment and regulatory changes that are expected to follow,” as the respondent noted, will alter the industry whether President Trump is re-elected or former Vice President Joe Biden takes the helm. It’s all speculation at this point, but certainly something medtech companies of all sizes should prepare for.