Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance, and Sen. Arlen Specter, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, on Oct. 23 introduced legislation to inject transparency into the prices medical device suppliers charge hospitals participating in federal healthcare programs.
The Transparency in Medical Device Pricing Act of 2007 would require medical device manufacturers, as a condition of receiving direct or indirect payments under Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, to submit to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on a quarterly basis data on average and median sales prices for all implantable medical devices used in inpatient and outpatient procedures. Manufacturers would be subject to civil monetary penalties from $10,000 to $100,000 for failure to report or for misrepresentations of price data. The secretary would also be required to make the data available to the public on the web site of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and update the web site on a quarterly basis.
“Today, there is no level playing field when hospitals negotiate with device manufacturers,” said Grassley in a statement. “This is a major reason why many hospitals pay absurdly more than others for the same medical device. The inflated prices many hospitals pay have implications for the healthcare system on multiple levels.”
