Health Industry Today articles from January 1995

Health Industry Today archives from January 1995

Sales of high-tech diagnostic imaging equipment remain weak.
January 1, 1995... Skittishness over the lingering effects of market-driven health care reform, the formation of a slew of provider networks including integrated health care delivery systems, and the booming popularity of managed care plans have combined to...

VHA move to big blue shakes but doesn't rattle, other ADAs. (VHA Inc.; authorized distributors)
January 1, 1995... Some say that the recent move made by VHA Inc., the powerful Irving, Texas-based group purchasing alliance, to add Baxter Hospital Supply as its fourth authorized distributor was made to give more choice to its 1,000-odd members. But insiders...

Christmas bonus for medical supply manufacturers: GATT.
January 1, 1995... The passage of GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, placed an early Christmas present under the trees of scores of medical equipment and pharmaceutical manufacturers fast month. The gift of GATT will come in the form of enhanced...

i-STAT's hand-held point-of-care analyzer aims to supplant stat labs.
January 1, 1995... i-STAT Corp., Princeton, N.J., launched a newly developed and enhanced hand-held point-of-care blood analyzer, one that could permit hospitals to eliminate costly stat labs and cut testing costs. Eliminating a stat lab could result in savings...

Magna-Lab hits world, U.S. market with scaled-down scanner. (Magna-Lab Inc.'s new MAGNA-SL extremity scanner)
January 1, 1995... An effort to gain worldwide distribution for its newly released product appears to only begin with an agreement reached by Magna-Lab Inc., Long Island, N.Y., with Elscint, Ltd., Hackensack, N.J. and Haifa, Israel. The two recently signed a...

Pyxis adds entry-level Rx management product. (Pyxis Corp.'s new Medstation pharmaceutical management system)
January 1, 1995... Pyxis Corp., San Diego, has rolled out the latest addition to its successful Medstation [R] pharmaceutical management system line. The company simultaneously launched the Medstation System 500 and previewed its Medstation System 2000, both...

DeRoyal makes consumer debut with soft goods line. (DeRoyal Industries Inc.)
January 1, 1995... DeRoyal Industries, Inc., Powell, Tenn., a company that has marketed orthopedic soft goods to hospitals for almost 20 years under the brand names Stat and Three-D, is making its first entry into consumer products with the launch of ActivitEase,...

MD&M expands. (Medical Design and Manufacturing West 95 expo)
January 1, 1995... This month's Medical Design & Manufacturing West 95 expo expanded by an estimated 36% over last year's show. This year's event was scheduled for Jan. 10-12 at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif., with a concurrent technical...

HIDA going home. (Health Industry Distributors Association)
January 1, 1995... The annual trade show and education forum of the Health Industry Distributors Assn., HIDA/95, has broadened its operations offering and raised the number of exhibitors in the operations field. The move is being made in response to a HIDA...

MEDICA 94 tops MEDICA 93. (attendance)
January 1, 1995... The recent MEDICA 94 International Trade Fair with Congress in Dusseldorf, Germany attracted more than 103,000 visitors from 78 nations who saw displays presented by 2,069 exhibitors from 40 countries. Visitors increased by 3,000 over 1993's...

Medtronic moves ventures group to Europe; could others follow? (Medtronic Inc.'s Corporate Ventures organization)
January 1, 1995... Seeking greener pastures and a more stable regulatory environment, Medtronic, Inc., has moved its Corporate Ventures organization to Maastricht, the Netherlands, and away from corporate headquarters in Minneapolis. The change is being made,...

Lilly sells Ivac unit. (Eli Lilly and Co.; Ivac Corp.)
January 1, 1995... Eli Lilly & Co., Indianapolis, agreed to sell its Ivac Corp. unit to River Acquisition Corp., a new San Diego-based concern formed by River Medical Inc. Ivac, also based in San Diego, is a producer of drug infusion pumps, blood oxygen meters...

Ohmeda's medical engineering unit sold to Atlanta capital firm. (Ohmeda Medical Engineering Div.)
January 1, 1995... The Medical Engineering Systems division of Ohmeda, Norcross, Ga., was sold to CGW Southeast Partners, a private Atlanta-based risk capital firm, along with a partnership of two former Ohmeda senior managers, Bob Dutlinger and David Seem. The...

Invacare acquires power medical seating concern. (Invacare Corp.'s acquires Genus Medical Inc.)
January 1, 1995... Invacare Corp., Elyria, Ohio, agreed to acquire Genus Medical, Inc., a Canadian manufacturer and distributor of rehabilitation products. No exact terms of the cash transaction were announced. The acquisition is designed to give Invacare, a...

Kodak completes two more divestiture pacts. (Eastman Kodak Co.)
January 1, 1995... As 1994 came to a close, two additional transactions were completed by Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y., as part of its announced divestiture program. The first was the sale of its Clinical Diagnostics Division to Johnson & Johnson, New...

Two integrated system databases for vendors available. (SMG Marketing Group Inc.)
January 1, 1995... SMG Marketing Group, Inc., a Chicago-based supplier of health care databases and market research, is offering a new Integrated Healthcare Networks (IHN) Database. The database provides health care product manufacturers with a profile of...

Kodak hikes medical film prices 3.9%. (Eastman Kodak Co. Health Sciences Div.)
January 1, 1995... A combination of factors including the rising inflation rate, higher costs for raw materials such as silver, and the company's "continued investment in new, cost-effective products and technologies," has prompted Kodak's Health Sciences...

Standard & Poor's adds 24 medical concerns to new index.
January 1, 1995... Twenty-four medical equipment and supply companies have been named to Standard & Poor's S&P SmallCap 600 Index, a new index designed to track the stock performance of small-capitalization companies. Inclusion in the index could provide these...

Consolidation in orthopedics: Wright acquires Orthomet. (Wright Acquisition Inc.; Orthomet Inc.)
January 1, 1995... Wright Acquisition, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Wright Medical Technology, Inc., Arlington, Tenn., completed its tender offer for Minneapolis-based Orthomet, Inc., a manufacturer of hip and knee implants and related products. Orthomet's...

Baxter closes deal for Intramed Labs. (Baxter International Inc.; Intramed Laboratories Inc.)
January 1, 1995... Baxter International Inc., Deerfield, Ill., completed its acquisition of Intramed Laboratories, Inc. in exchange for approximately 365,000 shares in Baxter common stock. The deal makes Intramed, a San Diego-based provider of visualization and...

Pfizer to acquire NAMIC USA.
January 1, 1995... Pfizer, Inc., New York, and NAMIC USA Corp., Glens Falls, N.Y., have entered into a definitive agreement to which Pfizer will acquire NAMIC in a stock-for-stock merger. Pfizer officials say that the transaction represents a major step toward...

Integrated Surgical Systems, Inc. (receives Commerce Department research grant)
January 1, 1995... Integrated Surgical Systems, Inc. (ISS), Sacramento, Calif. was awarded a $2.05 million research grant by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce to develop new applications for its ROBODOC [R] Surgical Assistant System. ROBODOC is an image-driven,...

Picker International. (acquires manufacturing and distribution rights to Kubota Graphics Corp.'s Denali 3-D graphics processor)
January 1, 1995... Picker International, Cleveland, has acquired manufacturing and distribution rights to Kubota Graphics Corp.'s Denali 3-D graphics processor. The Denali processor is integrated with Digital Equipment Corp.'s Alpha computer hardware to configure...

Uvex Safety LLC. (inaugurates new production plant)
January 1, 1995... Uvex Safety LLC, Smithfield, R.I., riding the wave of a brisk sales surge, dedicated a new 130,000sf production facility in Smithfield. The facility augmented the original Uvex plant by nearly 50% to meet strong demand for its lines of personal...

Acuson Corp. (acquires Sound Technology Inc.)
January 1, 1995... Acuson Corp., Mountain View, Calif. has acquired Sound Technology, Inc. (STI), State College, Pa., a seven-year-old, privately held ultrasound transducer manufacturer. No terms were disclosed. Sound Technology has worked with Acuson for the...

Prime Care Medical Supplies, Inc. (forms alliance with Metro Medical Resources)
January 1, 1995... Prime Care Medical Supplies, Inc., Queens, N.Y., and Metro Medical Resources, Portland, Me., have agreed to form an alliance aimed at expanding distribution of high-tech medical beds in New York state, Maryland and Maine. Prime Care is a master...

Zimmer Inc. (consolidates operations)
January 1, 1995... Zimmer, Inc., Warsaw, Ind., has consolidated its Hall Surgical Division, Carpinteria, Calif. with Linvatec Corp., a sister division based in Largo, Fla., in a move designed to improve operating efficiency and customer service. The decision by...

Bergen Brunswig acquires alternate site med-surg distributor. (Bergen Brunswig Corp. merges with Biddle and Crowther Co.)
January 1, 1995... Bergen Brunswig Corp., Orange, Calif. and Seattle-based Biddle & Crowther Co., the top-rated medical-surgical supplier to alternate site facilities in the Northwest and Alaska, have merged. No purchase price was announced. Biddle & Crowther, a...

Owens & Minor gains $50 million distribution contract award.
January 1, 1995... Owens & Minor, Inc., Richmond, Va., has been awarded a multi-year medical-surgical supply contract to distribute products for Phoenix-based Samaritan Health System and Tucson-based HealthPartners of Southern Arizona. The Samaritan system...

Medline sews up major surgery center supply deal. (Medline Industries Inc. signs contract with Premier Ambulatory Systems Inc.)
January 1, 1995... Medline Industries, Inc., Mundelein, Ill., and Premier Ambulatory Systems, Pasadena, Calif., have agreed on a contract that will provide a variety of medical-surgical supplies to Premier's 12 surgery centers located throughout the nation....

Homedco acquires Texas HME supplier. (Homedco Inc. acquires Am-Tex Healthcare Services Inc.)
January 1, 1995... Homedco Inc., Fountain Valley, Calif., has acquired all assets of Am-Tex Healthcare Services, Inc., a provider of home medical equipment and services, as part of its effort to increase coverage in Texas. Included in the transaction are nine...

G.M. unloads instruments division. (General Medical Corp.)
January 1, 1995... General Medical Corp., Richmond, Va., has signed an agreement to sell its Richmond-based Herwig surgical instruments, a division of General Medical Manufacturing Co., to Sklar Corp., West Chester, Pa. Terms of the transaction were not...

For effective advertising, put it in writing!
January 1, 1995... "Just put it in writing," advises the headline in an ad promoting a player in critical care diagnostics. I think I'll do just that. I am going to focus on a small, mature, yet still developing area in critical care diagnostics--the blood gas...

Bergen Brunswig Corp. (receives contract from Columbia HCA Healthcare Corp.)
January 1, 1995... Orange, Calif., was the recipient of a $2 billion, five-year contract that made it the sole drug wholesaler for Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., Louisville, Ky., the nation's larger for-profit hospital chain. The agreement, the result of a...

Smith & Nephew North America. (gets contract from American Healthcare Systems Purchasing Partners L.P.)
January 1, 1995... Memphis, Tenn., was awarded a five-year, $400 million contract renewal by San Diego-based American Healthcare Systems Purchasing Partners, L.P., to provide a full line of orthopedic, microsurgery, general surgery, bracing, wound management,...

McDonald's Corp. (forges deal with Premier Health Alliance Inc.)
January 1, 1995... (yes, that McDonald's Corp.) and Premier Health Alliance, Inc., Westchester, Ill., have agreed to partner on a deal that will allow Premier members to sell Big Macs, Value Meals and McNuggets in their facilities. Hospital-based Golden Arches...

Siemens Medical Systems Inc. (plans medical imaging system)
January 1, 1995... Iselin, NJ. will build a $5 million electronic medical imaging system at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. The imaging system includes a PACS (picture archiving and communications system) that will interface with the clinic's year-old...

United States Surgical Corp. (signs contract to supply the Kaiser Permanente pmedical program)
January 1, 1995... Norwalk, Conn., signed a $15 million to $30 million prime source agreement to supply the Kaiser Permanente medical program with laparoscopic and surgical stapling products for the next three years. The Kaiser Permanente medical program includes...

Attendance up, spirits are too, at '94 RSNA show. (Radiological Society of North America)
January 1, 1995... Roused by the additions of several new product lines designed to meet the demands of a cost-conscious marketplace that numbers fewer buyers than ever, vendors displaying their radiological equipment wares at the 80th Radiological Society of...

DeRoyal parley punches hot button: capitated supply pacts. (DeRoyal Industries Inc.)
January 1, 1995... Just a little more than a year has passed since the idea of capitated supply contracts began edging its way into the sometimes fuzzy, but generally stubborn consciousness of the hospital supply industry. Now it appears that a few souls are...

Success factors for suppliers ... with or without risk-sharing.
January 1, 1995... For today's vendor to succeed, particularly in the absence of risk-sharing agreements, Hudson RCI's Rick Johansen has several ideas. Suppliers, he believes, must direct a fundamental change in the culture of sales and marketing organizations...

Picker International. (personnel management)
January 1, 1995... James Fulton was named vice president and general manager of the Cleveland-based company's nuclear medicine division. Fulton has held various sales management positions in the nuclear medicine division since he joined the company in 1982, most...

Polaroid Corp. (appoints Gerald Knudson as president)
January 1, 1995... Gerald Knudson was named president of Polaroid Medical Imaging Systems division, Newton, Mass. Knudson will be responsible for development, manufacture and marketing of the Helios Laser System, the company's chemical-free digital film system...

Pyxis Corp. (appoints Michael Perry as vice-president)
January 1, 1995... Michael Perry was elected vice president, operations of San Diego-based Pyxis. Perry will oversee Pyxis' San Diego operations, including customer service. Perry joins Pyxis after nine years with Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif., where...

Biomagnetic Technologies Inc. (appoints Bruce S. Aboudara)
January 1, 1995... Bruce S. Aboudara was appointed to head worldwide sales and marketing activities of this San Diego-based magnetic source imaging concern. Aboudara, 43, will be responsible for expanding the marketing activities of the company for its Magnes [R]...

Owens & Minor, Inc. (appoints Hue Thomas III as vice-president)
January 1, 1995... Hue Thomas III, vice president of corporate relations for Richmond, Va.-based Owens, was elected chairman of the Health Industry Distributors Assn. Educational Foundation.

Invacare. (appoints Gerald B. Blouch as COO)
January 1, 1995... Gerald B. Blouch was promoted to chief operating officer with responsibility for all company operations and worldwide business units during a major reorganization of this home health care manufacturer and distributor. Blouch, 48, joined Elyria,...

Baxter International. (appoints Arnold Jay Levine as board member)
January 1, 1995... Dr. Arnold Jay Levine, 54, was appointed to a newly created vacancy on the board of Deerfield, Ill.-based Baxter. Levine has served as chairman of the molecular biology department at Princeton University since 1984. His appointment, which...

Medtronic, Inc. (appoints James G. Foster as vice-president and general manager)
January 1, 1995... James G. Foster was appointed vice president and general manager of the Minneapolis company's heart valve business. Foster will direct organizations developing, manufacturing and marketing prosthetic and bioprosthetic heart valves from...

Siemens Medical Systems, Inc. (appoints Robert V. Dumke as president and CEO)
January 1, 1995... Robert V. Dumke, president and chief executive officer, will assume additional responsibilities as a member of Siemens AG's Medical Engineering Group, a $5 billion global operation. As part of his new duties, he will have worldwide...

FoxMeyer Corp. (hires Glenn Papit as vice-president)
January 1, 1995... Glenn Papit joined the Carrollton, Texas-based pharmaceutical wholesaler as senior vice president for national accounts and hospital/alternate care marketing. Previously, he served as director of national accounts for Owens & Minor, Inc.,...