C.R. Bard and its affiliates — Liberator Medical Supply, Liberator Holdings and Rochester Medical Corporation — agreed to pay $17 million to resolve allegations they provided kickbacks to physician practice groups.
Between 2016 and February 2020, , the defendants reportedly offered discounts, excessive free samples, and cost savings on in-office supplies to urology practice groups, the Justice Department said in a Jan. 23 news release. These incentives were allegedly designed to persuade the groups to use Bard’s prescription form to prescribe intermittent catheters to their patients.
Bard began marketing intermittent catheters in 2013 after acquiring urology product supplier Rochester Medical. Following the acquisition, Bard’s sales representatives allegedly provided discounts and free samples of urological products to urology practice groups in an effort to standardize the use of Bard’s prescription form.
In 2015, according to the release, Bard expanded its business by acquiring Liberator Medical and Liberator Holdings, establishing its own medical equipment subsidiary to sell intermittent catheters directly to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. The Justice Department claims Bard then promoted its Link prescription form to encourage medical practices to prescribe catheters through Liberator Medical instead of other durable medical equipment suppliers.