3millionlives. A cartel in the making? (UK)

Cartel: A cartel is a formal (explicit) agreement among competing firms. [An agreement that has the effect of 'fixing' the market. Cartels are illegal in most countries.] (Wikipedia)

Last week I (editor Steve) highlighted some concerns about the way the UK's fledgling 3millionlives (3ML) campaign is shaping up, particularly in the matter of the MOU the Working Group expects companies to sign and the initial £10,000 cost of entry - with an uncapped commitment after that. I asked for comments from people who could make a positive case for the initiative. The comments so far - thank you - have been lukewarm. If you have not yet read the earlier item, read it first.

I have had private comments from some companies who were understandably reluctant to comment publicly. In summary, the concerns they expressed were... [Read more...]

• This is difficult...you don't want to be seen to be against an initiative that is supposed to help, but we are not at all happy with how it is going.
• We ran the MOU past our lawyers, who advised us not to sign it.
• We volunteered to help the project when it was first mooted but not only have we not heard back, we were not even sent the invitation documents you published.
• We think this is a Tunstall-driven scheme which has come about as the result of its Parliamentary lobbying activities.
• Why is only industry being asked to foot the bill? Some of these other organisations that are being invited [universities and charities] are quite well funded.
• Who is really going to benefit? Only the PR companies, I suspect.
• We won't be participating. The £10,000 is a small price for the big companies but it's a large proportion of our net profits. Then there is the unknown future financial commitment. It looks like an exercise by the large companies to exclude the smaller ones from the market. If they establish the 3ML branding in the NHS as representing 'trusted' or 'government approved' suppliers then the effect will have been to create a market that excludes us. In effect, it's a cartel.

And Medilink's press release on 3ML does nothing to dispel the misgivings: "Medilink UK's Chairman Tony Davis added: 'As well as the millions of lives that will be improved through this initiative, there are many Medilink members who stand to benefit hugely from the ‘3millionlives' campaign. As growing SMEs, they really want the doors to the NHS to be opened, and for healthcare professionals to be actively seeking telehealth and telecare solutions. By joining together, and by working with the Department of Health, they will be in the ideal position to take commercial advantage of the opportunities as they become available.'"