According to Millennium Research Group's (MRG's) Q1 2009 issue of Medtech Economic Quarterly (EQ), the health care and medtech industry has long been considered a recession-resistant segment of the economy; while this may be true, however, it is not recession-immune.

Medtech markets have already felt the impact from the downturn, although not all segments have been equally affected. Aesthetic and more elective markets have been hardest hit, with capital-intensive markets, such as diagnostic imaging, also feeling the pinch. Markets that address critical, acute care concerns such as cardiology have suffered little damage from the economic crisis, but are nonetheless showing that nothing is isolated from the recession's effects.

Not all indicators are negative, however. Exclusive MRG data from the new Medtech Confidence Index (MCI), which looks at the general economic outlook of practitioners in medtech, suggests that there is some reason for optimism. Many market players, based on preliminary 2009 MCI data, are cautiously feeling more bullish about the medtech industry's short-term prospects. Overall, however, general sentiment remains highly negative, and thus the relative optimism should only be interpreted as a slight increase in outlook relative to a dismal Q408.