Allegations spawn 2nd look: IMDA clarifies position re: claim against GPOs.

The industry group representing new, often high-tech medical devices is taking a

second look at the allegations of the group calling itself For Patients' Sake.

The Independent Medical Distributors Assn., Mission, Kan., which includes about

100 specialty companies that bring new technologies to market, issued a

statement in November saying that long-term corporate contracts could keep new

technologies off the market longer than necessary.

But IMDA still does not go as far as For Patient's Sake, which claimed in a

statement that GPOs "limit access to medical equipment" through compliance

requirements, as reported in the November 1998 edition of Health Industry Today.

A pair of needle contracts

Retractable Technologies, Little Elm, Texas, is the most vocal member, but For

Patients' Sake includes other …