A small group of Congressmen obtained a special exemption from Federal Anti-Kickback laws for their clients' GBOs (or GPO, stands for Group Buying/Purchasing Organizations) and fiercely protects GBOs from any threats to their profitability.
See this article from ascopubs.org
DOI: 10.1200/JOP.2014.001514 Journal of Oncology Practice - published online before print September 21, 2016
Chemotherapy Drug Shortages in the United States Revisited
Hagop Kantarjian, MD
"The practices of group purchasing organizations have been recently highlighted by several sources as a potential major root cause of generic chemotherapy drug shortages...."
Americans may not know that hospitals and oncologists routinely experienced shortages of chemo drugs and routine hospital supplies such as saline bags, over the past dozen years.
With pandemic coronavirus predicable in near future, shortages of normal saline are lethal threats.
Americans are supposed to love justice and equal enforcement of the law.
If Congress will not prioritize American lives ahead of lobbyists' special interests , may the public at least be assured that hospitals near offending Congressman's homes and places of work are not awarded a special "safe harbor" from hospital commodity shortages?
