Three OhioHealth surgeons, including spine surgeon Ronald Lakatos, MD, were examined in an article from The Dispatch discussing physician investment in device companies.
Here are five key notes form the report:
1. Dr. Lakatos reportedly has a $510,000 investment in Amedica, which sells spinal fusion products and orthopedic joint replacement implants. OhioHealth reported he uses Amedica products on an "infrequent" basis.
2. The investment was fully disclosed to the hospital. The hospital bought $52,662 worth of Amedica products in the past fiscal year out of the entire $35.2 million budget for spine products.
3. OhioHealth has a panel to review requests for new devices which evaluates the cost and need. The physician requesting the item is prohibited from influencing the decision on whether to purchase it or not. Physicians and vendors are required to disclose ownership investments or revenue-sharing arrangements.
4. Physician-owned distributorships aren't banned at OhioHealth, but the relationships must be disclosed and reviewers finding significant conflict of interest the physician may be forced to end involvement in the process. Currently, the chief medical officer reports nobody at OhioHealth is a member of a POD they're aware of.
5. Physician ownership in device companies has been a big topic, especially among spine surgeons. There is increased oversight in relationships by the government as well as employers, and now most device company payments to physicians are published publicly online.