NBA legend Bill Walton leads med-tech delegation to Capitol Hill (Mass Device)
The medical device industry unleashes one of its best weapons on the congress: Patients.
Bill Walton might be the medical device industry's best customer.
The 59-year-old former NBA player and basketball legend has had 36 orthopedic procedures, starting with his first surgery at 13 years old.
But it was a spinal fusion surgery in 2009, known as a minimally disruptive XLIF procedure, that turned his life around and made him an evangelist both for San Diego, Calif.-based NuVasive Inc.(NSDQ:NUVA) and the med-tech industry in general.
Walton, who's a paid spokesman for NuVasive's "Better Way Back" program, was the keynote speaker at the Medical Device Manufacturers Assn.'s annual meeting, which began today in Washington, D.C.
In a rousing speech, Walton related his personal struggles with debilitating back pain – which left him contemplating suicide – to those facing the industry, including the medical device excise tax, regulatory uncertainties at the FDA and reimbursement issues with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The device industry is hoping Walton's impact will be even stronger on...
