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Inside HSCA: GPO Safe Harbor: Activities and Perspectives of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and OIG
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To protect the healthcare cost savings and efficiencies that GPOs deliver to hospitals and healthcare providers, Congress codified the so-called GPO safe harbor in 1987. Richard P. Kusserow, former Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and Thomas E. Herrmann, who served in various capacities in the DHHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) Counsel's Office, recently published a report titled Activities and Perspectives of the Office of Inspector General in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Regarding Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs). In the report, the authors provide a retrospective review of Congressional enactment of the GPO safe harbor and other GPO-related OIG activities addressing disclosure practices, transparency and the establishment of the GPO safe harbor. The authors also provide their professional knowledge and perspectives on GPOS.
“In the over 25 years since the OIG started reviewing GPO arrangements and activities, a Governmental understanding and recognition of their benefits has developed. …The OIG recognized the potential cost savings that can be realized through the pooling of purchasing power by GPOs,” the report authors note. The authors further note that, “The mandated disclosure and reporting of cost savings that health care providers achieve through the use of GPOs ensures that Federal health care programs also benefit from lower costs.”
To read more from the report Activities and Perspectives of the Office of Inspector General in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Regarding Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs),click here.
