Judgment for Catheter Maker Affirmed In Hospital’s Challenge to GPO Contracts

A hospital challenging a catheter maker’s group purchasing organization (GPO) contracts under federal and state antitrust laws failed to show that discount agreements offered through the GPOs did not, as a practical matter, preclude the hospitals from purchasing the devices elsewhere (Southeast Missouri Hospital v. C.R. Bard Inc., 8th Cir., 09-3325, 6/8/11).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment for C.R. Bard Inc., which controls more than 80 percent of the hospital market for Foley catheters—tubes attached to inflatable balloons used to drain a patient’s bladder over an extended period of ...