Device makers pump up lobbying - TwinCities.com

Device makers pump up lobbying - TwinCities.com: "As a group, medical supply companies spent more than $28 million on lobbying during 2007 — and not all records are in yet — surpassing the 2006 total of $26.5 million, according to U.S. Senate records tabulated by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Responsive Politics. . . . Stephen Ubl, president of AdvaMed, a Washington-based trade group for medical device companies, said it has been necessary for manufacturers to spend more on lobbyists to monitor such things as reimbursement issues at the agency that runs Medicare, and a key piece of 2007 legislation that governs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the user fees that device companies pay the agency. . . .Ubl noted that a growing number of medical device companies have opened lobbying offices in Washington, D.C., in recent years, and those with existing offices have dedicated more resources to them. "The world in which we're operating is more complicated, and there are more (federal) issues we're working on. So, you need the expertise," he said. "