100 Most Influential People in Healthcare – 2016
Rank 71
Scott Whitaker
President and CEO, Advanced Medical Technology Association
- Compensation: NA
- Years on list: 1
As AdvaMed's new CEO, Whitaker faces the double-edged sword of trying to get regulators to streamline the approval processes for medical devices while ensuring that payers will reimburse for their use. There are also tricky questions about patient privacy and potential equipment hacks. Before joining AdvaMed in April, Whitaker was chief operating officer of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, which represents firms such as biopharmaceutical companies and vaccine makers. He also has until the end of 2017 to persuade lawmakers to either extend a two-year moratorium on a medical-device tax as part of the Affordable Care Act or eliminate it.