Originally Published MX May/June 2002
BUSINESS NEWS
Senate Takes On GPO IssuesAs this issue of
MX goes to press, members of the antitrust subcommittee of the Senate
Judiciary Committee are readying for hearings on "Hospital Group Purchasing:
Lowering Costs at the Expense of Patient Health and Medical Innovation?"
Congress was initially scheduled to hear testimony on this controversy last
October, but the hearings were postponed after the terrorist attacks of September
11.
Complaints about the practices of group purchasing organizations (GPOs) have
been common in the device industry for a number of years. Over the past year,
however, opposition to GPOs has taken an organizational turn, primarily through
the involvement of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA; Washington,
DC). Convincing Congress to hold hearings on the topic has been an agenda item
for the association for the past year.
Written testimony was distributed in advance of the actual hearings, which were
scheduled to take place on April 30.
In his testimony, Joe Kiani, president and CEO of Masimo Corp. (Irvine, CA),
proposed that lawmakers act on three fronts to resolve GPO-related issues.
- Repeal the antikickback exclusion for GPOs and do not let them be paid by suppliers or vendors, when they are supposed to be representing the hospital members.
- Eliminate sole-source and other committed volume contracts.
- Eliminate all product bundling so that clinicians are able to select products based on their individual merits.
Copyright ©2002 MX
