Actually this whole “program” was supposed to be a secret, but it sort of got out…
Recently The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/28/business/28devices.html?ex=1348718400&en;=ab27ba64e456cd60&ei;=5088) and the Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2007/11/07/hub_surgeons_got_millions_from_implant_firms/) recently reported on how the joint replacement program works in the US via a cool kickback system! You can go to the Department of Justice website to see the facts at http://newark.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2007/nk092707.htm.
Basically this is how I see it working. You, through years of hard work and long hours trying to put food on your family’s table, finally wear out your knee or hip. So you go to your physician and he determines you need a whole new replacement. Knee or hip replacement involves removing the old “joints” usually tore up through years of use and replacing the movable pieces with a high tech prosthesis. Now the prosthesis is not just a simplistic piece–well, actually it is a simplistic piece, but to put it inside your body means it has to cost more money than you believe when you actually see the parts! The ball and socket design which is the same design as the one in your car steering mechanism, which cost about $29.95 and will last 20 years, is similar but not the same as the one we put in your body which won’t last as long but will cost from $5,000 to $10,000.00! It’s also a little smaller and not as rugged. If you want to watch a cool video (sample is free) of joint replacements you can go to http://www.doereport.com and search for knee replacements…
Now only a few manufactures make hip and knee replacement parts and then sell them to the hospital. But the doctor is the one who usually picks which manufacturer he or she wants to use. It doesn’t matter if he likes the $10,000 one and you could save $5,000. You get the one he wants. So hopefully the reason he wants you to use a particular one is that is is safer! Or maybe because it lasts longer! Or it is easier to install in you, so your operating room time is shorter! Or he thinks you will move better, and get back to gardening, golfing, or walking sooner! Good stuff right! Wrong! Now we found out a little something funny is going on. You see the manufacturers figured out not much could be different from a titanium ball and ceramic socket. So if you’re selling the same thing at all sorts of different prices and the customer is paying for essentially the same product, then how can you move your goods and stick it to the patient without them knowing it?
Several joint companies came up with plans that they could pay a “consulting fee” to the doctors who use their prosthesis. So that means the doctor tells the hospital “Hey, I am only going to use company XYZ because it’s safer, longer-lasting, better, and so on.” And in return for the “consulting” the company sticks a “Ben Franklin” in their pocket! It works! In some cases just a small token $25,000 “consulting” fee. In others, how about $2-3 Million!!! Now that’s an awesome plan!
So the process of ripping off the little man to pad the pockets of the doctors, via padding the bottom line of the prosthesis guys is really a high-tech, high-cost, super-secret (or at least it was) consulting operation! So if you paid a fortune for your knee or hip, you may want to check the website of the manufacturers listed as they were required by law (as part of the settlement agreement to keep them out of jail), to post all the doctors they slipped cash to–sorry, who they gave a “consulting” fee to. Then if your Doc was on the list you may want to see if he or she minds sharing a piece of the timeshare in Greece, after all, you really paid for the whole thing! If not you could ask the CEO of the hospital how it happened, and tell your friends about the great plan, and so on.
Each manufacturer who got “found out about” worked a cool deal with the law so they didn’t have to sleep with other guys who broke the law. They call it a “non-prosecution agreement” which is a neat idea to confuse the consumer about if they were wrong or not. The five companies named by the Department of Justice in the news articles are Stryker, Biomet, DePuy (a unit of Johnson & Johnson who does the nice nursing ads on TV), Zimmer, and Smith & Nephew. The government states they represent collectively about 95% of the big players, so at least nobody got left out of the “program”.
So, if you’re sitting around talking with your friends, telling them about your great new hip or knee, and how great the Doc was, and now you’re a new man, and so on, you can also brag on the new consulting gig your doc got in on and you get a knee and he gets a vacation, or a new car, or a lot of other cool stuff at your expense! Awesome! Still feel good? Medicine in America is so cool!
Now I am starting to wonder about all the mechanical heart valves, pacemakers and other stuff people got….
