“There is no empirical data that GPOs provide any savings for Medicare and Medicaid,” he said. “There’s no data with which to independently verify the effect, one way or another, and that’s a shortcoming in the current system.”
The GAO report said hospitals increasingly rely on GPOs as the principal way to keep supply costs in check. Almost 10 years ago, GPOs were accused of collecting excessively high contract administrative fees and other potentially anti-competitive practices.
Read the release from Sen. Grassley on GPOs.
Read the GAO report on GPOs (pdf).
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10738.pdf
Read other coverage on GPOs.
