Comment on FR Doc # 2012-02493

I am a Negotiator for Corporate Purchasing in the healthcare industry. This greatly concerns me due to the fact that the manufacturers want to pass this cost onto their customers. This not only affects the the facilitiy cost of providing the healthcare but also the patient cost to receive the healthcare. My facility is already working as diligently as possible to keep our costs under control. Already it seems as if we are fighting a battle we can never win. This will undermine many of the actions Corporate Purchasing has taken to get the product cost down because the price will increase 2.3%. This means if we negotiated a 1.5% decease in price, we will be paying more for the item in the long run. Doesn't sound like much, but multiply that 2.3% for everything the facility uses in patient care and the grand total will lead to higher casts to the patient. The facilities will have no other recourse but to pass this addtional cost onto the patient. Having to accept a non-negotiable price increase for the majority of the items our facilities uses, undermines our efforts to lower costs to our patients. If the governments focus is to lower the cost of healthcare then they should not let the manufacturers pass this additional cost onto the healthcare facilities which in turn would be passed on to the patient.