(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- A new survey from the American Society for Quality (ASQ) asking medical device manufacturers about industry trends and challenges shows a majority (64.7%) identify health care legislation as having a negative effect on the industry in the year ahead. Increased FDA oversight and compliance with regulations tops what manufacturers feel will be the biggest challenge in their industry in the coming year.

The ASQ medical device industry survey results also sites these 2010 challenges:

• Impact of the health care reform
• Cost reduction while maintaining quality
• The effects of a proposed innovation tax

When it comes to innovation trends, manufacturers believe the hottest areas include:

• Nanotechnology
• IT/wireless capabilities for hospitals
• Less invasive surgeries and devices used
• Combination devices involving drugs and biologics

Hot trends

Respondents were also asked to identify the hottest medical device opportunity in the next three years:

• 31.7 percent believe neurological advancements offer the hottest opportunity
• 30 percent believe it is in cardiovascular
• 25.2 percent said orthopedics

As for economic growth in 2010, more than half of respondents (56.9%) believe their organization will experience more economic growth than in 2009. A little more than 27percent believe they will experience about the same, and 10.3 percent believe there will be less growth than in 2009.

“Neurological, cardiovascular, and orthopedic opportunities are such industry hotbeds because of the growing senior population,” says ASQ medical device expert Dan Brown. “And while it’s clear that population will contribute to the economic growth of manufacturers, the pending health care legislation has most major equipment purchasing organizations on a wait-and-see approach.”

The survey was distributed to members of the medical device industry the week of Jan. 18–22. There were a total of 234 respondents.