Chicago Friday, October 23, 2026 Closed session, 30 seats
Chicago Commercial Craft Session

The 2027 contract cycle is being written
under pressure that didn't exist
when the last one was signed.

A closed-door working session for the director- and EVP-level medtech leaders who actually write and negotiate commercial contracts. Tariff exposure, GPO consolidation, and reimbursement pressure are reshaping the next cycle. This is the room where that gets worked through — not presented at.

No buyers. No press. No sales pitch.

Seats are personally allocated. Maximum two per company.

30seats
Maximum. Two per company. Manufacturer-side only.
48findings
Verified findings in the Commercial Crucible research base underpinning the session.
222sources
Independently referenced sources behind the research.
0pitch
Published no-pitch policy. Chatham House Rule throughout.
Why this room, why now

The people who negotiate medtech contracts have nowhere to compare notes. That is the gap this session exists to close.

Across the US market, the commercial terms that will govern 2027 are being drafted right now — against tariff exposure that was theoretical eighteen months ago, GPO structures that have consolidated buying power, and reimbursement frameworks moving from pilot to policy. The people holding the pen are commercial and pricing directors, heads of tender and bids, contract and revenue-operations leaders. They are making these calls largely without a peer forum.

No existing US event owns this conversation. Policy conferences treat pricing as a regulatory question. Innovation summits skip contracting altogether. Where supplier-side content does appear, it is typically sponsor-hosted — which changes what can honestly be said in the room.

The timing is deliberate. October 23 lands two days after the industry's largest US medtech gathering wraps, and shortly after the Section 232 medical-device tariff decision expected in mid-September. The room reacts to a confirmed policy outcome and fresh takeaways from the field — not to speculation.

The session is built on Vamstar's Commercial Crucible research base: 48 verified findings drawn from 222 referenced sources on US medtech pricing and contracting. That research frames the discussion. It is not the subject of it — the room is.

Session details
Date Friday, October 23, 2026
2:00pm through dinner
Location Chicago
Venue confirmed on acceptance
Size 20–30 attendees maximum
Two seats per company
Audience VP/Director Commercial · VP/Director Pricing · Head of Tender & Bids · Director of Contracts · GTN/Revenue Ops Director
Manufacturer-side only No GPOs, IDNs, or hospital buyers in the room
Record Chatham House Rule
No published proceedings
Programme

The shape of the afternoon.

A keynote to frame, a policy briefing to ground, a working session to actually do the work, and a closing round where everyone commits to something. Reception and dinner follow.

2:00
Welcome & framing
2:10
Keynote: Clause Engineering — Contract Architecture for a Tariff-Shocked Decade

How contract structure absorbs shocks that pricing alone cannot. Drawn from the Commercial Crucible research base.

Praful Mehta CEO & Co-founder, Vamstar
3:00
Section 232 Briefing: what happened, and what it means for contracts

A grounded read on the medical-device tariff decision and its direct consequences for commercial terms in the 2027 cycle.

Parashar Patel McDermottPlus
3:30
Break
3:45
Working session: From Award to Revenue — the conversion gap & gross-to-net execution

The gap between winning the award and realising the revenue. Open working format, full group.

Speaker to be confirmed
4:20
Closing discussion — one clause, one capability, one kill-date

Each participant leaves with three commitments they can act on inside their own organisation.

5:15
Reception
6:00
Dinner

Agenda is indicative and not yet committed. Final timings and the remaining speaker confirmed on acceptance.

Format and guardrails

Designed for candour. Not for the record.

Invitations are extended personally, based on how directly each participant's remit touches the questions under discussion. The group is deliberately small and deliberately one-sided — manufacturer-side only. Both are necessary conditions for the conversation to be worth having.

  • 20–30 seats, maximum two per company
  • Manufacturer-side only — no GPOs, IDNs, or hospital buyers in the room
  • Chatham House Rule applies throughout. No attribution outside the room.
  • Published no-pitch policy — including for Vamstar
  • No press, no published proceedings
  • The guest list is not shared publicly, before or after
  • Reception and dinner for all participants the same evening
A note on selection

Vendor-neutral, and structurally so.

The no-pitch policy is published rather than implied, and it binds Vamstar as much as anyone else in the room. The research base frames the discussion; it is not a product demonstration in disguise.

Keeping buyers out is the other half of that. Commercial and pricing leaders cannot speak plainly about tariff pass-through, GPO leverage, or gross-to-net reality with the counterparty listening.

Convened by Vamstar

This session is convened by Vamstar, whose work at the intersection of procurement intelligence and commercial strategy across health systems produced the research base behind the agenda. Vamstar contributes that research as one input to the peer conversation. Not as the subject of it.

Source: The Commercial Crucible — US MedTech Pricing & Contracting in 2026 (Polaris research base, Vamstar).

Your response

If you would like to attend.

If you would like to attend, or would like to speak with someone before confirming, please use the options below or contact Tim Farnham directly at timothy.farnham@vamstar.io. He can also provide further detail on the agenda and the other participants.

Seats are personally allocated, not assigned by response order. Maximum two per company.