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In April of 2002, Senator DeWine, Chairman of the Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee, and I began investigating hospital group purchasing organizations (GPOs) -- buying groups that are used by hospitals to purchase nearly all of their supplies.

There is evidence that suggests GPO business practices reduce competition and innovation in health care and narrow the ability of physicians to choose the best treatment for their patients.

Since the April hearing, Senator DeWine and I have been working with the GPO industry to oversee their creation of a voluntary code of conduct that will address the specific ethical problems and contracting issues that have become evident.

We have also requested that the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission re-examine their guidelines that protect GPOs from federal antitrust scrutiny in most cases.

Our goal is to ensure that the GPO system truly achieves savings in the cost of medical equipment, and that these savings do not come at the expense of patient health or medical innovation.