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The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals (Southeast Missouri Hospital v. Bard Inc.), recently found— for the second time— that GPOs benefit the healthcare delivery system. The court, which agreed to rehear the case after originally reaching the same conclusions in an August 2010 decision, joins the Supreme Court, GAO, DOJ, FTC and academia in providing a vote of confidence to the GPO model and its value to the healthcare supply chain.
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decision focuses on antitrust issues and includes the following additional findings of fact:
- GPO membership is voluntary for hospitals, hospitals can (and do) switch from one GPO to another, and may belong to multiple GPOs; - 96 to 98 percent of all hospitals in the United States voluntarily belong to one or more GPOs; - On average, hospitals pay 10-15 percent less by buying under GPO contracts; - GPOs do not purchase supplies; member hospitals do under the terms of their GPO-negotiated contracts; - Hospital contracts with GPOs can be terminated at any time with notice to the supplier; - Hospitals are not required to purchase through their GPO contracts, but can instead purchase supplies “off-contract,” negotiating their own prices directly with suppliers.