NEWS TEASERS
The investigation into questionable arrangements between device companies and physicians didn’t end with last September’s settlement between the government and five major orthopedics companies.
In February, the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing to focus on the financial relationships between surgeons and device companies. Witness testimony included representatives from Stryker Corp. (Mahwah, NJ), Zimmer Holdings Inc. (Warsaw, IN), and Applied Medical Resources Corp. (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA).Gregory Demske, assistant inspector for legal affairs in the Office of Inspector General, said his office has found evidence indicating that device-company payments of stock options, research grants, and other perks to doctors run the risk of inappropriately influencing the doctor’s decision.
The topic was a hot one at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons’ annual meeting in March. And a Senate bill that would create a national registry of payments and gifts to doctors may yet be enacted into law.
For more on this topic, visit the Med-Tech Precision blog.
