GE Healthcare announced an agreement that commenced in early March with group purchasing organization HealthTrust to supply low-energy SPECT and high-energy PET radiopharmaceuticals to HealthTrust’s members throughout the country.

"GE Healthcare is focused on providing health care providers choice in contrast media options," a GE spokesperson told HCB News. "Given that HealthTrust’s member institutions are required to purchase from compliant contracted vendors, our agreement will expand availability of these diagnostic tools for health care providers and patients at these member institutions."

HealthTrust is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee and has about 27,600 members including acute care facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, physician practices, long-term care and alternate care sites. As a GPO, they negotiate discounts with manufacturers to help its members realize savings.
Overall, about 72 percent of purchases that hospitals make are done through GPO contracts, according to the Healthcare Supply Chain Association. These GPO contracts save hospitals save up to $33 billion each year.

Through this agreement, HealthTrust member facilities will have access to GE’s Life Sciences Core Imaging SPECT proprietary products such as Myoview, Ceretec and Indium-Oxine. They will also have access to non-GE products like MDP, Indium In-11, Thallium chloride and Sodium Iodide 1-123 capsules.

The global nuclear medicine/radiopharmaceutical market is expected to grow from $4.67 billion in 2016 to $7.27 billion in 2021, according to a Reportlinker market report. Advances in radiotracers, the increasing prevalence of cancer and cardiac diseases and the introduction of alpha emitters for targeted cancer therapy are driving the market.

Business Affairs Homepage