Physician-Owned Distributorships Damage Health Care
By Admin | May 13, 2016
Physician-Owned Distributorships (PODs) lead to unnecessary and overly complicated procedures, often use illegal business practices, and are finding ways to circumvent anti-kickback laws.
The alarming report conducted by the US Senate Committee on Finance also raised concerns that many hospitals were aware of questionable POD practices, but either turned a blind eye or actively participated in the deceitful practices.
The Committee states they are “highly concerned about the damage that PODs have done, and are continuing to do, to patient safety and federal healthcare programs.”
They maintain that hospitals should be part of the solution to ending illegal POD practices, serving as the wall to block unethical behaviors.
Their recommendation is that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the Inspector General should increase their efforts to investigate and litigate potential kickback violations when it comes to PODs and questionable payment models. They also want to see stricter enforcement of the Sunshine Act, which requires that drug, medical device, and biologicals manufacturers to report certain payments and items of value given to teaching hospitals and physicians.
Information for this article was taken from the National Law Review. For more, read “Senate Finance Committee Updates Report on Physician-Owned Distributorships” by Kathleen McDermott and Jacob J. Harper.
