The Martin Memorial Health Systems in the State of Florida issued a memorandum dated May 6th, 2011 to all of its providers of medical devices and supplies. The reference on the memo was regarding PODS. Here is a reprint of the Memo as provided to TSB by one of our bloggers.
Martin Memorial and its affiliates believe that the growing influence of physician owned intermediaries in the medical device and supply industry is inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the federal anti-kickback statute, creating what the OIG has characterized as a “strong potential for improper inducement between and among physician investors, the entities, device vendors, and device purchasers. The OIG has stated that these ventures should be closely scrutinized under the fraud and abuse laws.
PODS are beginning to appear in hospital supply chains as middle man entities, typically organized as a product distributor or a group purchasing organization, that gives physician investors an opportunity to receive profits from the sale of certain medical products or supplies to hospitals in which the physician investors provide professional services. After reviewing various recent publications and legal opinions on this subject, Martin Memorial has concluded that it shall be its policy to refrain from entering into business relationship with supply chains that involved physician owned intermediaries. A snapshot of five bullet points follow;
Read the full article here: http://spineblogger.blogspot.com/2011/05/let-games-begin.html
