MHA Society for Supply Chain Management

IRS urged to prohibit device companies from passing excise tax to customers

The American Hospital Association, the Federation of American Hospitals, the Catholic Health Association, and the Health Industry Group Purchasing Association on March 28 urged the Internal Revenue Service to prohibit device companies from passing on to customers the ACA's excise tax on medical devices. "In summary, the IRS should implement the device tax in a manner that recognizes the 'shared responsibility' commitment from a broad group of key health care stakeholders, including medical device companies, to enact long-needed national health reform through passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," the groups wrote.

The letter adds, "As the ACA appears to permit device companies to deduct the tax from their income for federal tax purposes, to allow device companies also to pass through the tax to their customers would permit a financial 'double-dip' that could leave device companies in a better financial position than before the ACA was enacted."

Company agrees to stop selling certain heart-lung bypass machines

Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corp. has signed a consent decree prohibiting it from distributing two heart-lung bypass systems and other cardiovascular devices to new customers, the Food and Drug Administration announced March 22. The decree also restricts sale of the systems to existing customers until the company complies with the FDA’s good manufacturing practice and medical device reporting requirements.

Because of concerns about possible shortages, FDA said the company can continue to provide service, replacement parts and loaner devices to existing customers that submit documentation of medical need. Customers should receive a notification guide from the company with instructions for completing and returning a certificate of medical necessity.

[ via AHA News Now ]

MHA's Society for Supply Chain Management hosting workshop on GPO partnership

The GPO Partnerships:  Collaboration & Price Protections, scheduled for May 17,  has been postponed until October 6-7, 2011.  MHA realizes the timing of this program coincides with the flooding from the MS River and would better serve our members by rescheduling to a later date.

The Mississippi Hospital Association's Society for Supply Chain Management in Healthcare, an individual chapter of the American Hospital Association's Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM), will host GPO Partnership: Collaborative Approach & MS MED-1: A Tour of MS State Medical Assistance Team at the Jackson International Airport in Jackson. AHRMM has approved the workshop for 3.0 hours of CEs.

A full agenda is available online here. Register for the meeting here. For more information, contact Judith Forshee at (800) 289-8884, (601) 368-3216 or jforshee@mhanet.org.

 

AHRMM launches 2011 health care supply chain survey

The American Hospital Association’s Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management is surveying hospital executives to learn their perceptions of the importance of supply chain management to their organizations, and related developments and trends. Instructions for accessing the online survey, conducted by Jamie C. Kowalski Consulting, were e-mailed March 17 to hospital CEOs, chief financial officers, chief operating officers and health care supply chain leaders.

Survey respondents will be eligible to receive an executive summary highlighting the survey results, which will be tabulated by Marquette University’s College of Business Center for Supply Chain Management and presented by Kowalski at the AHRMM annual conference in Boston. “In order to provide solid data for process improvements, AHRMM encourages all hospital executives and supply chain leaders to participate in this initiative,” said AHRMM Executive Director Debbie Sprindzunas.

For more information, email ahrmm@aha.org.