Legislation Would Require Quarterly Price Disclosures Of Medical Devices

Main Category: Medical Devices / Diagnostics
Article Date: 26 Oct 2007 - 8:00 PDT

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Republican Sens. Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa) on Tuesday introduced a bill (S 2221) that would require medical device manufactures to file quarterly reports on the average prices of all implantable medical devices sold for inpatient and outpatient procedures, CQ HealthBeat reports.

Grassley said, "Without any available information on fair prices for medical devices, hospitals are involved in one-sided negotiations with device manufacturers," adding, "Some hospitals are paying a lot more than others for the same medical device. That means health care dollars aren't being spent wisely." Specter said, "The legislation sends a message to medical device suppliers that if they want to do business with the federal government, they have to show us their prices."

A spokesperson for the Advanced Medical Technology Association, the largest lobby group for medical device makers, said the association is reviewing the legislation. The spokesperson added that under principles on transparency adopted by the group, such proposals should be based on accurate and timely data, and "reflect the complexity of the procedures and services available" (CQ HealthBeat, 10/24).

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