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In a recent piece for Modern Healthcare, HSCA President Curtis Rooney discusses medical device pricing secrecy and the recent GAO report addressing this issue. According to Rooney, medical device contractual confidentiality agreements—also known as “gag clauses”— prevent hospitals and healthcare facilities from “sharing data and validating that they are receiving a fair price on the products they buy.”
Rooney references specific cases of significant price discrepancies cited in the report, noting one particular hospital that paid $8,723 more than another facility for an identical model of a heart rhythm regulation device-—a device that typically costs hospitals between $16,445 and $19,007. Another hospital reported spending “about $5,200 for a primary total knee construct, while another hospital paid about $9,500 for the same procedure, or 83% more.”
Rooney states, “Medical device pricing secrecy decreases competition, limits the ability of hospitals and their GPO partners to effectively negotiate for medical products and services, and artificially drives up healthcare costs, leaving hospitals, patients Medicare and American taxpayers to foot the bill.”