President-elect Trump's plan to impose tariffs on imported goods will affect the prices of the approximately 75% of available U.S.-marketed medical devices that are manufactured out of the country, and more specifically the 69% of available U.S.-marketed devices that are manufactured solely outside of the U.S., according to GlobalData's Medsource Database, which collates data on the medical device supply chain. These tariffs may have negative consequences for a continually growing market due to an ageing population and increasing prevalence of long-term illnesses. As a result of these policy changes, companies will be forced to increase prices to make up for losses incurred by the proposed tariffs. Additionally, this may cause supply chain disruptions, reducing accessibility to medical devices and inflating the cost of these products due to the higher demand in comparison to the supply.
Makary has long advocated for reforms to the health care system and gained prominence during the pandemic for his criticisms of parts of the federal response. He has recently been supportive of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to become HHS secretary.
As Oracle and Epic march toward a head-on battle for supremacy in the huge market for electronic health records, the bromide about how “what got you here won’t get you there” will provide a stark example of why niche providers that dominated the on-prem world will be overmatched and pushed to the periphery in the modern world of cloud and AI.
Ambient AI medical scribes are about the easiest — and hottest — way into healthcare for AI-based startups. Just take a look at this graphic that lists 35 companies who are (or at one point were) trying to use ambient voice for translating the audio of doctors’ visits into written notes. The area is both well within the capabilities of AI tools and also — theoretically — doesn't directly affect patient care. While the number of health systems looking into contracting with an AI scribe company is growing, analysts anticipate that the bubble will eventually burst and the field will contract. Cracks are already showing: Last fall, Robin Healthcare, an AI-aided charting and reimbursement platform, quietly went under. Earlier this year, longtime ambient medical scribe company Augmedix — the only publicly traded company in this area — went private when it was acquired by Commure.