Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs): An Overview

Abstract

Group purchasing organizations (GPOs) have been long-term players in the healthcare ecosystem for over a century, but have gained some unwelcome notoriety in the last two decades. During the early 2000s, they were the subject of (in turn): several exposé articles in The New York Times, four Antitrust Subcommittee hearings sponsored by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and several reports by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). They were named or unnamed co-conspirators in several lawsuits brought by small product manufacturers alleging restraint of trade and anticompetitive practices.