Shart Of The Deal - Respironics Ventilator Edition

[UNCjigga]

Taxpayers Paid Millions to Design a Low-Cost Ventilator for a Pandemic. Instead, the Company Is Selling Versions of It Overseas.

As coronavirus sweeps the globe, there is not a single Trilogy Evo Universal ventilator — developed with government funds — in the U.S. stockpile. Meanwhile, Royal Philips N.V. has sold higher-priced versions to clients around the world.

www.propublica.org

Taxpayers Paid Millions to Design a Low-Cost Ventilator for a Pandemic. Instead, the Company Is Selling Versions of It Overseas.
As coronavirus sweeps the globe, there is not a single Trilogy Evo Universal ventilator — developed with government funds — in the U.S. stockpile. Meanwhile, Royal Philips N.V. has sold higher-priced versions to clients around the world.

Cliffs:
- 2014: Obama's HHS realizes US hospitals will face a critical shortage of ventilators in a pandemic. HHS signs $13.8M contract with Respironics (Philips' subsidiary) to design and develop a low-cost, American-made portable ventilator for US stockpile.
- 2019: Trump's FDA clears the final design and HHS orders 10,000 units at $3,280 each. So far, so good...except:
- After receiving FDA approval, Philips starts manufacturing and selling a higher-priced $12,500 SKU of the ventilator for overseas customers.
- 2020: Covid-19 sweeps the globe. Not a single respirator has been delivered to the stockpile. Why? Turns out the order HHS placed late in 2019 gave Philips 1 year to produce Unit 1 and 3 years to complete delivery. Doh. Obama's HHS in 2014 insisted that potential partners would need to ramp up production quickly in the event a pandemic is declared. That language didn't make it in the final order contract.
- HHS gets Philips to agree to an amendment in March, but they still don't guarantee production will start immediately.
- Trump touts the Defense Production Act and threatens to compel GM into ventilator production. Says nothing about Philips/Respironics.
- Philips negotiates with Jared Kushner to build 43,000 of the more expensive ventilators for the stockpile on taxpayers' dime.

In short, America pays a company to design and develop a ventilator; said company commercializes a higher-priced version and never builds the government version; government then renegotiates for the higher-priced version amid a pandemic. Profit!

These public/private partnerships are really working out, aren't they?

 

[pauldun170]

Taxpayers Paid Millions to Design a Low-Cost Ventilator for a Pandemic. Instead, the Company Is Selling Versions of It Overseas.

As coronavirus sweeps the globe, there is not a single Trilogy Evo Universal ventilator — developed with government funds — in the U.S. stockpile. Meanwhile, Royal Philips N.V. has sold higher-priced versions to clients around the world.

www.propublica.org

Taxpayers Paid Millions to Design a Low-Cost Ventilator for a Pandemic. Instead, the Company Is Selling Versions of It Overseas.
As coronavirus sweeps the globe, there is not a single Trilogy Evo Universal ventilator — developed with government funds — in the U.S. stockpile. Meanwhile, Royal Philips N.V. has sold higher-priced versions to clients around the world.

Cliffs:
- 2014: Obama's HHS realizes US hospitals will face a critical shortage of ventilators in a pandemic. HHS signs $13.8M contract with Respironics (Philips' subsidiary) to design and develop a low-cost, American-made portable ventilator for US stockpile.
- 2019: Trump's FDA clears the final design and HHS orders 10,000 units at $3,280 each. So far, so good...except:
- After receiving FDA approval, Philips starts manufacturing and selling a higher-priced $12,500 SKU of the ventilator for overseas customers.
- 2020: Covid-19 sweeps the globe. Not a single respirator has been delivered to the stockpile. Why? Turns out the order HHS placed late in 2019 gave Philips 1 year to produce Unit 1 and 3 years to complete delivery. Doh. Obama's HHS in 2014 insisted that potential partners would need to ramp up production quickly in the event a pandemic is declared. That language didn't make it in the final order contract.
- HHS gets Philips to agree to an amendment in March, but they still don't guarantee production will start immediately.
- Trump touts the Defense Production Act and threatens to compel GM into ventilator production. Says nothing about Philips/Respironics.
- Philips negotiates with Jared Kushner to build 43,000 of the more expensive ventilators for the stockpile on taxpayers' dime.

In short, America pays a company to design and develop a ventilator; said company commercializes a higher-priced version and never builds the government version; government then renegotiates for the higher-priced version amid a pandemic. Profit!

These public/private partnerships are really working out, aren't they?

Probublica published that on the 30th
NYTimes (where I origanally read about this) published on the 29th

I would recommend reading both to see the different styles of presentation for the same topic

The U.S. Tried to Build a New Fleet of Ventilators. The Mission Failed. (Published 2020)

As the coronavirus spreads, the collapse of the project helps explain America’s acute shortage.

www.nytimes.com

 

[JEDIYoda]

Probublica published that on the 30th
NYTimes (where I origanally read about this) published on the 29th

I would recommend reading both to see the different styles of presentation for the same topic

The U.S. Tried to Build a New Fleet of Ventilators. The Mission Failed. (Published 2020)

As the coronavirus spreads, the collapse of the project helps explain America’s acute shortage.

www.nytimes.com

You know the rules...when posting an article you go with the article that comes closets to your take on what is happening! Truth be damned!!