This perverse system was created in 1987 when Congress enacted the Medicare anti-kickback “safe harbor,” which exempted these buying organizations from criminal prosecution for accepting vendor kickbacks. Spurred by a 2002 New York Times investigation into anticompetitive purchasing group practices, Congress held several hearings to determine whether greater federal regulation was needed. Antitrust lawsuits and more government investigations and exposés followed. A study in fall 2011 issue of the Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy found that group purchasing organization kickbacks inflated supply costs by at least $30 billion annually. But little has changed because of the enormous political clout of the industry’s lobby, which includes the Healthcare Supply Chain Association and the American Hospital Association.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 04:00:24 +0000
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