Health Industry Today articles from June 1993

Health Industry Today archives from June 1993

Vendors promote custom kits as a cost-effective alternative. (surgical kits)
June 1, 1993... Emphasizing convenience and labor savings, top manufacturers of surgical kits are waging a sales rep-driven effort to defend their more costly pre-assembled packs against critics who call them a waste of money. Vendors also say they are...

Home health care vendors cautious despite booming nature of industry. (Industry Overview)
June 1, 1993... Acclaimed as an inexpensive, patient-requested alternative to acute care, home health care is expected to boom as part of the Clinton administration's pending reforms. Manufacturers and distributors of home health care products told Health...

Spiral CT gets new application; Picker uses it in promotions. (3-D spiral computed tomography angiography; Picker International Inc.)
June 1, 1993... The market for spiral computed tomography (CT) equipment is positioned to expand as it becomes accepted as a non-invasive means of X-raying arteries. Called 3-D spiral CT angiography (CTA), the spiral CT application is not only non-invasive...

Baxter sells packaging plant as move to decentralize. (Baxter Healthcare Corp.; Tower Products Inc.)
June 1, 1993... Baxter Healthcare Corp., Deerfield, Ill., took another step toward decentralizing operations by agreeing to sell its Tower Products Inc. packaging plant to Rexham Corp., a subsidiary of the London-based Bowater plc. Financial details were not...

Picker's U.S. Army CT attracts inquiries from other countries. (Picker International Inc.; Picker CT Medcat)
June 1, 1993... Picker International, Cleveland, Ohio, received inquiries about its computed tomography (CT) equipment from military operations in at least four countries after the equipment was employed by the U.S. Army as part of the humanitarian relief...

Sterling Medical focuses on wound care products, service. (Sterling Medical Services Inc.)
June 1, 1993... To distinguish itself from competing distributors, 7-month-old Sterling Medical Services, Inc., Berlin, N.J., is offering free wound care product training and telephone assistance to clients who are primarily alternate care sites. Sterling...

Armed services gear up for unified distribution system. (military hospitals and clinics)
June 1, 1993... Plans for 150 U.S. military hospitals and clinics to coordinate medical/surgical supply purchases and distribution through a central office will significantly alter the industry by opening up a market of at least $300 million per year. "We...

McKesson Drug Co. pursues med/surg supply market.
June 1, 1993... McKesson Drug Co., San Francisco, is training 50 sales reps to position the company as a major distributor of medical/surgical supplies. The training program began in May. McKesson is attempting to expand the company's med/surg supply sales...

Motorola paging group targets health care market. (Motorola Paging Products Group)
June 1, 1993... Motorola Inc.'s Paging Products Group, Boynton Beach, Fla., is targeting the health care market with the company's ALERT CENTRAL, an integrated application software program that works in conjunction with computer-driven monitoring systems...

Medical Retro Design embarks on joint venture with AmHs. (American Healthcare System)
June 1, 1993... Medical Retro Design (MRD), Austin, Texas, received a cash infusion in April and the potential for a dramatic increase in business by entering into a joint venture with American Healthcare Systems (AmHS), San Diego. MRD is a division of Kinetic...

Forms vendors cope with hospital's mindsets.
June 1, 1993... Forms vendors are finding an increasing percentage of their business is coming from hospitals. Troubled economic times and concern about health care reform is making hospitals re-evaluate forms costs, which often account for 25% of a hospital's...

Siemens deal "future of national accounts." (Siemens Medical Systems Inc.)
June 1, 1993... The future of national accounts may focus on one-time purchases, rather than ongoing national contracts, according to Steve Wright, director of national accounts for Siemens Medical Systems, Inc., Iselin, N.J. Siemens recently saw a glimpse...

Public relations is an essential advertising tool.
June 1, 1993... We all know that the function of marketing is to bring new products to market, and to support those products once they get there. However, companies who live only from product to product to product without paying attention to the broader issue...

National contract implementation, step by step.
June 1, 1993... One of the best ways to reap the rewards of a national contract, as a contracted vendor, is to ensure that both your organization and the buying group have committed to "rolling up your sleeves." The mere fact of having a contract can help...

Health care reforms set to alter distribution. (Interview)
June 1, 1993... Editor's note: Ted Almon, president and chief executive officer of Claflin Co., East Providence, R.I., voiced his opinions about the current state of the medical/surgical distribution system as part of Health Industry Today's CEO interview....

Service, technology positions Pyxis for success. (Pyxis Corp.) (Company Profile)
June 1, 1993... Chances of a new company successfully entering the hospital equipment market with an unheard-of product may seem remote, if not impossible, but that is exactly what the $88.5-million, San Diego, Calif.-based Pyxis Corp. has done in a few short...

Physio-Control shipping, reclaiming lost territory.
June 1, 1993... Physio-Control Corp., Redmond, Wash., is back--and is sending out 46,000 letters and the company's entire sales force of 70 reps to tell customers about it, according to Richard Martin, Physio-Control president and chief executive officer....

Tele-sales reps cut overhead, increase profits. (medical equipment and supplies telemarketers)
June 1, 1993... Tele-sales reps (telemarketers) can provide an inexpensive, effective way for medical/surgical distributors to establish and maintain accounts with clients located in remote areas. Stuart Medical Inc., Greensburg, Pa., increased sales by 20%...

Safe blood pumps made safer with Quest device. (Retro-Guard disposable valve from Quest Medical Inc.)
June 1, 1993... Quest Medical, Inc. is marketing the RetroGuard disposable valve, a 3-inch-long device designed to make safe centrifugal blood pumps even safer. Quest began selling the RetroGuard in April; the device received 510(k) clearance in March....

Ventritex's new V-100 targets Medtronic's PCD.
June 1, 1993... Ventritex, Sunnyvale, Calif., is marketing the Cadence |R~ V-100 as the only implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) on the market offering tiered therapy in combination with biphasic waveform defibrillation pulses and stored electrograms,...