Last December, the Biden Administration declared war on corporate greed in healthcare. The announcement included a range of fronts in the war, from fighting bloated drug costs to attacking anticompetitive contracts that cause unnecessary waste for hospitals, payors, and the patients they serve.

As reported by Healthcare Business News, the White House announcement led to a March 2024 from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) of an online portal for reporting anticompetitive business practices in hospitals, among other examples of antitrust in the health sector.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant, it’s been said, and there has never been a better opportunity to expose unscrupulous, potentially anticompetitive contracting practices than now. For over 20 years, our members have shared stories of some original equipment manufacturers offering what may amount to kickbacks, chipping equipment with the intent of hindering reprocessing, and other antics that inhibit a hospital’s right to use FDA-regulated, reprocessed single-use devices (SUDs).

When hospitals use reprocessed SUDs, they reduce cost (to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars), waste, and greenhouse gas emissions. Numerous peer reviewed studies show that reprocessing cuts costs (typically by 30 to 50% compared to using a virgin device each time) and CO2 emissions are reduced by about 40%. Reprocessing programs should be maximized at this time to insure urgently needed resilience, cost savings and waste and emissions reducing benefits.

This is a red flag moment, and if we want to see an end to unfair, anticompetitive contracts, our industry needs to speak up.

Hospitals have an unprecedented opportunity to comment on the state of purchasing contracts for medical devices. To encourage filing complaints on the portal (which can be submitted anonymously), we want to share a few ideas about what kinds of topics the government might want to hear about from providers, supply chain purchasers, and hospital sustainability managers.

For years, we have chronicled common anti-reprocessing tactics and how to combat them. We believe some of these tactics may rise to the level of anti-competitive behavior and urge those who have experienced the below examples to report them on the FTC portal.

For a list of anticompetitive practices and contact information, click here for full statement.