Safe harbor regulations for GPOs.

At one time, GPOs were placed under the umbrella of those who receive "kickbacks". Now, they have regulations that specifically exempt them from legal repercussions when accepting fees for recommending to its member hospitals that they do business with particular healthcare vendors. In short, for a GPO to legally accept fees from vendors, the GPO needs a written agreement with each hospital that permits the GPO to accept fees and it must report in writing to the hospitals at least annually the amount of the fees collected from each vendor.