- 47 -
Patients do not choose which or how many medical supplies will be
used by the hospitals' staffs. With a few exceptions, patients
receive no tangible item that they did not have before the
rendition of the medical services because the medical supplies
generally are used and then discarded by the hospitals.
Patients, moreover, generally do not acquire any rights over the
medical supplies used by the hospitals in the normal course of
the hospitals' operations of providing health care services. We
conclude that for purposes of section 448(d)(5) the use of
medical supplies is part of the medical services furnished
patients and that the cost of those supplies is an incidental
cost of the health care services provided by the hospitals. See
Potter v. James, 499 F. Supp. 607, 611 (M.D. Ala. 1980).
We find support for our conclusion in Abbott Labs. v.
Portland Retail Druggists Association, 425 U.S. at 14-15. In
Abbott Labs. a group of commercial pharmacies brought suit under
the Robinson-Patman Price Discrimination Act (Robinson-Patman
Act), ch. 592, 49 Stat. 1526 (1936) (current version at 15 U.S.C.
secs. 13-13(b), 21(a) (1994)),19 against 12 manufacturers of
pharmaceutical products, alleging that the manufacturers sold
their products to hospitals at prices lower than the prices
19 The Robinson-Patman Price Discrimination Act (Robinson-
Patman Act), ch. 592, 49 Stat. 1526 (1936) (current version at 15
U.S.C. secs. 13-13(b), 21(a) (1994)), generally made it illegal
for a seller of merchandise to discriminate in price among
different purchasers of like commodities.
Page: Previous 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011