What You Should Know:
– According to new PwC analysis on the future of medtech, the next 12–24 months represent a critical window to adopt a new operating playbook to ensure survival and achieve growth that investors will reward. The U.S. healthcare system is on the cusp of a fundamental transformation, with over $1 trillion of annual spend expected to shift from infrastructure-heavy models toward digital-first, consumer-centered, and data-powered care.
– The exceptional product innovation that sustained medtech for decades is no longer enough. Leaders now face intensifying regulatory hurdles, rising investor scrutiny, and competition from AI-native entrants. Top performers will be defined by their ability to execute across five strategic foundations to create value beyond the product itself.
Five Strategic Pillars for Medtech Growth
PwC’s report reveals the future of health will reward companies that take action now across these five key pillars:
1. Redefine Commercial Excellence as the Engine of Adoption
Commercial excellence must pivot to meet customers where decisions are made, replacing outdated go-to-market strategies. This involves:
- AI-Native Processes: Automating manual quoting, pricing, contracting, and customer service.
- Strategic Allocation: Reallocating commercial spend to high-growth categories (e.g., full sales coverage, digital engagement) and sustaining mature businesses with leaner models (e.g., AI agents, centralized support).
- Metric Focus: Relentlessly measuring key indicators like share of wallet, market share, and new vs. existing customer contribution.
2. Treat Data as a Product to Power Connected Care
Medtech companies generate vast volumes of data, but it often remains locked in silos. Leaders must treat data not as a passive asset, but as a product that is discoverable, consumable, and actively exchanged internally and with partners.
- Actionable Outcomes: This approach links data directly to outcomes like faster regulatory approvals, predictive quality, and better patient experiences.
- Cultural Shift: Success requires new ownership models and aligned incentives to turn data into a growth engine.
3. Rewire Operating Models to Embed AI and Agility
Legacy structures and rigid processes are incompatible with the speed and intelligence the market demands. Leaders must operate as intelligent enterprises built for agility at every level.
- Hybrid Workforce: Redesigning organizational structures and processes to empower a hybrid workforce of human and AI agents.
- Centers of Excellence: Industrializing the process of innovation through the creation of AI centers of excellence where teams co-design solutions in rapid, iterative sprints.
4. Build Connected Ecosystems with Partners
The next wave of growth will come from reimagining the business model, with medtech companies evolving from stand-alone hardware to intelligent infrastructure and orchestrators of care.
- Converging Systems: Devices must enable real-time diagnostics and guide decision-making across the care continuum (home, hospital, on the move).
- Strategic Choices: Leaders are making deliberate choices about where to compete versus where to partner—increasingly through collaborations with retailers, payers, or digital platforms to create integrated care pathways.
5. Reshape Portfolios with an Innovator’s Mindset
Achieving durable, industry-leading top-line growth requires continuous portfolio shaping.
- Organic Levers: Efficiently reallocating resources and funding internal ventures toward priority growth programs.
- Inorganic Levers: Using M&A to access capabilities faster than organic build, and leveraging divestitures to align along growth vectors. The top quartile of divesting companies achieved 10.4% shareholder returns.
A Call to Action: Discipline is the Differentiator
The opportunity for medtech is clear: lead the digital transformation by adopting this new playbook. The next generation of leaders will not be defined by products alone, but by how they rewire their businesses across these five dimensions. Small differences in execution over the next 18 to 24 months will compound into lasting advantages in growth, competitiveness, and investor returns. Discipline—financial, operational, and cultural—is the differentiator that will separate leaders from laggards.
For more information about PwC’s MedTech report, click here.
