Hospitals Gain New Tool To Fight Medtech Monopolies

Medtech suppliers are gigantic international corporations, while even the largest health system in the United States only has a 5% market share. This imbalance of power leaves hospitals at the mercy of their suppliers, with little leverage to negotiate for what is truly best for patient care. Too often, suppliers succeed in intimidating hospitals into accepting deals that increase costs or limit care options.

The real problem is not simply the price of an individual device. It is the market dynamics that favor the supplier in every case.

For too long, monopolistic conditions have permitted suppliers to bully hospitals into arrangements that effectively cost more and provide lesser care. That reality is now being challenged. In May 2025, a jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Innovative Health, finding that Johnson & Johnson MedTech violated federal and California antitrust laws. In August, a federal judge issued a permanent injunction directing Johnson & Johnson MedTech to stop specific practices that restricted the use of reprocessed single-use devices.

This legal outcome is important not only because it curtails one company’s conduct, but because it produced a tangible new tool for hospitals everywhere: a hotline and a webpage where staff can report anti-reprocessing activities. The hotline is operated by the Association of Medical Device Reprocessors (AMDR), underwritten by Innovative Health as part of its court victory. But its purpose extends well beyond one lawsuit or one manufacturer. It is industry-wide and vendor-neutral, providing hospitals a way to push back against a broad spectrum of restrictive practices.

Why reprocessing matters

Reprocessing single-use devices is not a fringe cost-saving measure. It is a well-established, FDA-regulated practice that allows hospitals to reduce expenses, limit medical waste, and reinvest savings into patient care.

To receive FDA clearance, a reprocessed device must be shown to be substantially equivalent to its new counterpart. Accuracy, specifications, and performance are already validated through this process. When reprocessing is restricted, hospitals are deprived of a safe, effective, and financially responsible option for patient care.

How suppliers restrict reprocessing

The new hotline and webpage allow staff to report many known anti-reprocessing tactics. While the terminology may sound abstract, here is how these behaviors play out in everyday clinical settings:

Blocking technology: Some device manufacturers install software or hardware features designed to prevent reprocessed devices from working with their systems. In the electrophysiology lab, for example, a reprocessed mapping catheter may be electronically “locked out” from connecting with the mapping system, even though the device itself has been cleared by the FDA.
Withholding or degrading clinical support: Under “case coverage” policies, suppliers have threatened to pull technical representatives out of procedures if a hospital chooses to use a reprocessed catheter. For clinicians, this means losing real-time support during high-stakes procedures, simply because the hospital sought to use a safe, lower-cost device.
Improper device collections: Some suppliers collect used devices from hospitals, even when they do not have regulatory approval to reprocess them. This practice removes the devices from circulation before they can be sent to FDA-cleared third-party reprocessors, effectively cutting off the hospital’s ability to participate in reprocessing programs.
Warranty threats: Hospitals have reported being told that if they use reprocessed devices, the warranties on expensive capital equipment, such as mapping consoles, could be voided. Faced with the risk of losing protection on equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, many hospitals feel pressured to abandon reprocessing altogether.
Tampering with assets: There have been cases where manufacturers interfere with the availability or integrity of devices in hospital inventories, such as altering labeling or logistics in ways that cast doubt on reprocessed devices. These tactics create confusion for clinical teams and raise unfounded concerns about safety.
Coercive pricing structures: Suppliers often bundle products or create pricing models that make it financially punitive for hospitals to incorporate reprocessed devices. A hospital might face price hikes on unrelated items or lose access to bulk discounts if it chooses to purchase from a reprocessor.
Misinformation about reprocessing: Perhaps most damaging is the spread of inaccurate claims that reprocessed devices are less safe or less effective. This misinformation undermines clinician confidence, even though FDA clearance establishes that the devices perform to the same standards as new ones.

Each of these practices has the same effect: restricting hospital choice, raising costs, and diverting resources away from patient care.

A tool for accountability

The new hotline and webpage provide hospital staff with a simple way to report these activities:

Toll-Free Hotline: 855-893-7002
Web Form: https://report.syntrio.com/reprocessing

Both are available 24/7, and reports can be made anonymously. By documenting anti-reprocessing behavior across vendors and clinical settings, hospitals can begin to build the evidence needed to hold suppliers accountable and reclaim control over their procurement decisions.

Taking back control

A very important aspect of this initiative is that Innovative Health asked AMDR to operate the hotline. This ensures that the effort has reach beyond one lawsuit, one company, or even one clinical specialty. Restrictive practices are not unique to Johnson & Johnson MedTech. They are symptomatic of a broader market where monopolistic behavior is all too common.

The launch of this hotline marks a turning point. Hospitals now have a practical, industry-wide mechanism to push back against anti-reprocessing behaviors that inflate costs and limit patient care. It is an opportunity for hospital staff to take back control, protect their patients, and re-engineer the market dynamics in healthcare toward what truly matters: better outcomes at sustainable costs.