Health Industry Today articles from August 1995

Health Industry Today archives from August 1995

Distributors wrestle with serving new integrated systems. (medical and surgical equipment distributors)
August 1, 1995... The nation's medical-surgical distributors are literally lining up to greet the rapidly emerging new player on the provider side: integrated delivery systems (IDSs). The forecasters who said less than two years ago that the stakes would rise...

J&J raises ire of med-surg distributors by cutting prompt payment discount. (Johnson and Johnson; medical-surgical equipment distributors)
August 1, 1995... The nation's medical-surgical distributors are locked in pitched daily battles for market share and may not agree on the direction of the industry as a whole. But there is no disputing the fact that all of these companies - from huge publicly...

Behring Diagnostics' acquisitions of Syva spawns $700 million force.
August 1, 1995... Behring Diagnostics kept up the pace of its U.S. sales and marketing efforts last month when it completed the acquisition of Syva Co., a San Jose, Calif.-based unit of Roche Holding Ltd., for an undisclosed amount. Behring Diagnostics is the...

Wright offers less-expensive alternative to custom femoral implants. (Wright Medical Technology Inc.)
August 1, 1995... Wright Medical Technology, Inc., believes the completion of its S.O.S.[TM] modular femoral system puts the Arlington, Tenn.-based orthopedic manufacturer in a position to offer surgeons a complete modular system for femoral reconstruction. The...

OEM pact to give hospitals total Control over isolation room airflow. (agreement between Johnson Controls Inc. and Phoenix Controls Corp.)
August 1, 1995... A non-exclusive agreement between Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls, Inc., and Phoenix Controls Corp., Newton, Mass., will bring together a combination of products from both companies in an offering aimed at the growing market for isolation rooms...

HIMA study fuels broadside at FDA. (Health Industry Manufacturers Association)
August 1, 1995... The FDA is "broken and needs to be fixed," said C. Ray Holman, chairman of the Health Industry Manufacturers Assn., as he released the findings of a study on the subject for medical device companies. The study, commissioned by HIMA and conducted...

Varian sells Electron Devices unit. (Varian Associates Inc.)
August 1, 1995... Varian Associates, Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., seeking to concentrate on its fast growing equipment operations, reached agreement to sell its Electron Devices business to LGP, a Los Angeles-based private merchant banking firm, for approximately $200...

Infusion port buy broadens U.S. Surgical product lines. (United States Surgical Corp.)
August 1, 1995... United States Surgical Corp., following the recent strong trend of large specialized companies to broaden their product offerings, completed its acquisition of the ChemoSite[TM] infusion port business of Device Labs, Inc., Medway, Mass. The...

Hologic, Merck agree to promote bone density diagnostic services. (Hologic Inc.; Merck and Company Inc.)
August 1, 1995... An advanced fan beam scanner known as the Acclaim is the centerpiece of a financing agreement signed by Hologic, Inc., Waltham, Mass., and Merck & Co., Inc., West Chester, Pa. The move is aimed at increasing the number of bone density diagnostic...

Smith & Nephew Dyonics president: "We will be the arthroscopy leader." (Smith and Nephew Dyonics Pres. Charles W. Federico)
August 1, 1995... In the wake of yet another in the long line of manufacturer-side mergers, one that combines Smith & Nephew Dyonics, Andover, Mass., with Acufex Microsurgical, Inc., Mansfield, Mass., is being touted by a chief executive as the impending leader in...

Second-generation Symphony system is music to Nellcor's ears. (Nellcor Inc.)
August 1, 1995... Nellcor Inc., is hoping that the first two modules of Nellcor Symphony[TM], its newly cleared monitoring system, will soon be used to monitor patients' vital signs on the general patient care floor areas in hundreds of U.S. hospitals. The...

Once-bashful Bard forms corporate marketing and services group. (C.R. Bard Inc.)
August 1, 1995... C.R. Bard, traditionally a quiet giant that has been slow to change and reluctant to talk about it, is refocusing its sales and marketing strategy to put it more in line with shifts in the market place. The Murray Hill, N.J.-based producer of...

Aesculap Inc. (signed contracts with Shared Services for Southern Hospitals Inc. for surgical instruments)
August 1, 1995... Aesculap, Inc., South San Francisco, Calif., signed two-year contracts with Atlanta-based Shared Services Healthcare, Inc., for hand-held surgical and reusable laparoscopic instruments. The agreements are in addition to Aesculap's existing...

Owens & Minor Inc. (signed distribution agreement with AmeriNet Inc.'s ValuNet division)
August 1, 1995... Owens & Minor, Inc., Richmond, Va., has signed a new distribution agreement covering medical-surgical supplies with the ValuNet Division of St. Louis-based AmeriNet. The three-year agreement took effect July 1 and lasts for three years with a...

National Contracts Inc. tilts toward information technology.
August 1, 1995... Though company president Bob Oosdyke says his firm is simply trying to slake the industry's thirst for data and not de-emphasizing national accounts, Oosdyke's National Contracts Inc. has changed its name (but not its familiar initials) and...

Colonial merger boosts Durr into national prominence. (Bergen Brunswig Corp.'s acquisition of Colonial Healthcare Supply; Durr Medical Corp.)
August 1, 1995... News of the most recent act of consolidation in the medical-surgical distribution industry was met with little surprise from the competition. The latest announcement came early last month when Bergen Brunswig Corp., the $8 billion Orange,...

Empi Inc. (will market products in catalog through agreement with Rehab Med Equip Inc.)
August 1, 1995... Empi, Inc., Minneapolis, a manufacturer of non-invasive biomedical devices and accessories for use in the physical therapy, sports medicine and incontinence treatment markets, will market its products in a national rehabilitation supplies catalog...

Nycomed Inc. (will relocate in Princeton, New Jersey)
August 1, 1995... Nycomed Inc., will flee its longtime home in Manhattan and relocate its U.S. headquarters to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology corridor in central New Jersey. The company will be based in Princeton, N.J. An affiliate of Hafslund Nycomed, Oslo,...

LifeCell Corp. (began shipments of cryopreserved allograft skin)
August 1, 1995... LifeCell Corp., The Woodlands, Texas, began shipments of cryopreserved allograft skin for use as a temporary burn dressing. The shipments marked an expansion of the company's processing services to include cryopreserved allograft skin, an...

Senex. (has opened new corporate headquarters)
August 1, 1995... Senex, a compression therapy equipment and services provider based in Quincy, Mass., has opened new corporate headquarters as it positions itself to begin a national rollout. The company says it plans to expand to other regions of the country in...

Emerging networks redouble importance of national accounts. (integrated delivery networks)
August 1, 1995... As the health care industry continues to evolve, national accounts are not only assuming greater importance, but taking on ever-expanding roles. Findings at a recent industry conference indicate that one of the emerging roles of national accounts...

AmHS-Quorum in $5 billion purchasing accord. (American Healthcare Systems; Quorum Health Group Inc.)
August 1, 1995... A purchasing alliance that is expected to combine for upwards of $5 billion annually has been signed between San Diego-based American Healthcare Systems (AmHS) and Quorum Health Group, Inc., Nashville, Tenn. The deal should give both sides...

Warning: don't let the winds of change blow you off course. (advertising campaigns; medical equipment industry)
August 1, 1995... Like a chameleon that changes its colors, advertising campaigns often change their creative facade. Sometimes the change is dictated by necessity: The campaign just isn't working, the new product calls for something really new, etc. There are...

General Medical acquires Denver physicians supplier. (General Medical Corp.; Denver Surgical Supply Co.)
August 1, 1995... General Medical Corp., seeking to advance its presence in the booming Denver region in general and in that city's primary care market in particular, acquired Denver Surgical Supply Co. for an undisclosed price. The acquisition of Denver...

Owens picks up five more VA clusters. (Owens and Minor Inc.; Veterans Administration)
August 1, 1995... As the Veterans Administration continues to shift to its new distribution system that includes primary and secondary medical-surgical suppliers, Owens & Minor, Inc., Richmond, Va., continues to pick up VA supply contracts. Owens was chosen as a...

Owens whacked by low 2Q95 earnings. (Owens and Minor Inc.; 2nd quarter 1995)
August 1, 1995... Officials of Owens & Minor, Inc., battling back following a weaker than expected showing in a second quarter earnings preview, are convinced that the Richmond, Va.-based distributor, the nation's number-two medical-surgical distributor, will...

Dealers chosen for traction device. (Para Tech Industries Inc.)
August 1, 1995... Para Tech Industries, Inc., Centerville, Ohio, has added four new companies to its list of authorized national dealers. The company added the dealers to market its CTD-MARK I, a traction device designed for the therapeutic treatment of repetitive...

Distributors sign 14 more hospitals to stockless deals. (medical-surgical equipment distributors)
August 1, 1995... The Big Three medical-surgical distributors were the only vendors to sign new stockless distribution agreements during the second quarter. All told, the vendors surveyed for this HIT/HMM Stockless Scorecard added 14 new agreements. A reporting...