Phillip L. Zweig ’68 recently wrote an oped for the Wall Street Journal, titled “Where Does the Law Against Kickbacks Not Apply? Your Hospital.” Along with co-author Dr. Frederick Blum, Zweig explores the root cause of the shortages and high prices of drugs, especially generic sterile injectables used in hospitals and other facilities. In the article, they offer a straightforward solution to lowering medical costs.
The authors explain that last year Amazon Business planned to “infuse competition into the marketplace for hospital supplies," making doctors and hospital workers optimistic that problems with scarce and expensive treatments would be solved. However, Amazon backed out of the market, leaving an “anticompetitive system” in place.
Majors: Psychology & English Literature
Fraternity: Emerson Literary Society
There are four hospital group purchasing organizations (GPOs) that control purchasing for the majority of the supplies used by hospitals, clinics and nursing homes across the nation. These cartels sell market share and take money from drugmakers, which Zweig explains creates supply breakdowns and higher costs for hospitals.
Zweig is a business and financial journalist, and the executive director of the program, Physicians Against Drug Shortages (PADS).
