In Kaiser Health News, Tom Bulleit Examines Medical Device Kickback Issues of Physician Owned Distributorships

A Kaiser Health News investigative article that is generally critical of physician owned distributorships of implantable medical devices (PODs) quotes health care partner Tom Bulleit (Washington, D.C.). Tom notes that while collaboration with physician inventors is critical to innovation in the development of medical devices, a POD business model—one that, as described in the article, simply rewards physician owners of privately-held distributors for the implantable devices they order for their own patients—does not advance the interests of product improvement and innovation, but merely incentivizes those doctor-owners to steer patients to products that make them money.