H.R.D.I. Settles Conflict Case
BY LAUREN UZDIENSKI, JANUARY 25, 2007
Last July, we reported on a Connecticut lawsuit against the Healthcare Research and Development Institute (H.R.D.I), a for-profit consulting firm that advised pharmaceutical, medical device and financial services companies on selling their products to hospitals. Yesterday, following an investigation by the Connecticut Attorny General's office, the H.R.D.I. announced they would close. The investigation cited anti-competitive practices and kickbacks to the hospital executives who ran the company, though the settlement agreement included no admission of wrongdoing.
H.R.D.I. became the subject of controversy due to its closed meetings at luxury resorts, where hospital executives advised vendors of how to market their products. In attendance at a Colorado Springs meeting last summer were Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, among other companies.
Calling the firm "an anticompetitive, secret society, an elite and exclusive club . . . that restrained competition to the detriment of patients and provider," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal praised the settlement, which includes a $150,000 fine.
