‘Shell Game’ or Rebate Maximizers? FTC Probe Reignites Debate Over GPOs

May 25

When the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on May 17 that it ordered Zinc Health Services, LLC, and Ascent Health Services, LLC, to turn over their business records, it was just the latest salvo in a rising tide of scrutiny directed at PBM-affiliated group purchasing organizations (GPOs).

One former FTC official says the agency has a range of powers it can wield to find out more about PBM-linked GPOs — and even potentially change how they do business. Yet the PBMs that own and use such rebate-aggregating organizations say their reputation as shadowy, overseas entities belies the GPOs’ simple goal of extracting larger drug discounts from manufacturers.

0 Comments

Radar on Drug Benefits

Leslie Small

Leslie has been working in journalism since 2009 and reporting on the health care industry since 2014. She has covered the many ups and downs of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the failed health insurer mega-mergers, and hundreds of other storylines spanning subjects such as Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored insurance, and prescription drug coverage. As the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits, she writes and edits for both publications while overseeing a small team of reporters who also focus on the managed care sector. Before joining AIS Health, she was a senior editor for the e-newsletter Fierce Health Payer, and she started her career as a copy editor at multiple local newspapers. She graduated with a dual degree in journalism and political science from Penn State University.