Monday, November 8, 2004
Vendors jack up flu shot prices
Local hospitals refuse to go along
By Matt Leingang
Enquirer staff writer
Several large hospital systems in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky say they have been contacted by vendors trying to sell flu vaccine at up to 10 times the regular price, an unprecedented figure.
The offers are coming at a time when hospitals are trying to secure limited supplies of the vaccine for high-risk patients and employees.
TriHealth, which owns Good Samaritan and Bethesda North hospitals, said it recently was offered a 10-dose vial of flu vaccine for $900. The normal price is about $80 to $100.
"That's just ridiculous. It's too bad that it's come to this," spokesman Joe Kelley said.
The U.S. vaccine supply - expected to be 100 million doses this year - was cut in half when British regulators announced Oct. 5 they had shut down a Chiron Corp. production facility in Liverpool because of contamination.
TriHealth was left empty-handed by Chiron and doesn't have any vaccine, but it won't pay those prices, Kelley said. The hospital system needs about 1,500 doses to vaccinate its health-care workers directly involved in patient care.
Since the flu shot shortage was announced in October, about 55 percent of U.S. hospital pharmacists have been contacted by vendors offering vaccine at inflated prices, according to a recent survey by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists of Bethesda, Md.
The survey included responses from 23 hospitals in Ohio and 13 in Kentucky, but it did not say whether any hospitals bought the vaccine at such high prices.
Hospitals indicated that the solicitations had come via phone calls and e-mails from vendors who normally don't supply them.
The companies are not manufacturers, but act as wholesalers and specialize in drugs in short supply.
One of those companies is Meds-Stat of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Texas, Florida and Connecticut have filed lawsuits against the company, alleging "unscrupulous" and "deceptive" business practices for charging between $396 and $950 for vials of 10 doses of the vaccine known as Fluzone and Fluvirin. Meds-Stat has denied any wrongdoing.
Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro has not received any formal complaints of price gouging, a spokeswoman said. Neither has Kentucky, according to a statement from Attorney General Greg Stumbo.
That may be because local hospitals aren't giving in.
The Health Alliance, Cincinnati's largest hospital group, "has not, and will not, purchase the vaccine from these vendors," spokeswoman Patty Thelen said.
She said the six Health Alliance hospitals - University, Christ, Jewish, Fort Hamilton, St. Luke East and St. Luke West - have only enough vaccine to immunize at-risk employees. But doctors in a company-run primary care group have none.
The Ohio Department of Health is urging hospitals with large quantities of the vaccine to contact their local health departments about sharing.
About 108,177 additional doses of the vaccine are needed at hospitals across Ohio, according to an estimate by the Ohio Hospital Association.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Aventis Pasteur, the only remaining manufacturer of flu vaccine, are working to allocate 22.4 million doses of unshipped vaccine to areas of need throughout the country. But it's not clear if any will end up in the Tristate.
In addition, Aventis is expected to produce another 2.6 million doses in January. Those doses will push the number of vaccinations available to about 60 million, far short of the nearly 90 million administered last year.
So far, flu activity is low. Twenty-six states have reported sporadic cases, including Ohio. Kentucky and 19 other states have reported no influenza activity, according to the CDC.
Typically, the flu begins to strike in November and generally lasts through mid-March.
On the Web: Flu info a click away
• 
