An End-to-End Blueprint for MedTech Medical Affairs

Author(s): Ramona Galantonu, PhD, & Marceline Treneff (Veeva)

Medtech medical affairs has historically been seen as a support function – brought in to approve a slide deck or handle technical queries. Today, that perception is shifting. As the regulatory landscape tightens and the “value-based” model takes hold, medical affairs is transforming into a strategic engine designed to drive the business from product conception to patient outcome.

At a recent medtech roundtable at the MAPS Americas 2026 Annual Meeting, industry leaders gathered to tackle a foundational question: Can we standardize a set of responsibilities and a high-level operational process flow across medtech medical affairs? While there wasn’t a singular consensus, the group underscored the need for a standardized framework as reference and emphasized that this foundation must be coupled with the flexibility to serve the diversity of medtech organizations, allowing the industry to stop reacting and start optimizing.

Key takeaways:

• MedTech Medical Affairs is shifting from a support role to a more strategic function.
• Industry leaders are exploring whether its responsibilities and workflows can be standardized across the field.
• The discussion at the MAPS Americas 2026 Annual Meeting reflects growing interest in defining clearer, more consistent expectations for the function.