Health Industry Today articles from May 1998

Health Industry Today archives from May 1998

Contract compliance a double-edged sword for most suppliers.
May 1, 1998... As the saying goes, wish too hard for what you want and you just might get it. For years, medical device manufacturers carped about compliance to contracts signed with national group purchasing organizations. Suppliers grumbled privately and...

Federation event offers vendors best chance for access to decision makers.
May 1, 1998... Among the many difficult challenges in marketing products to today's increasingly rigid group purchasing organizations and hospital chains, access to a narrowing group of key decision makers is one of the more formidable. This is particularly...

Encore's new hip system a Revelation.
May 1, 1998... Encore Medical Corp., a small, but growing manufacturer of total hip, knee and shoulder systems and trauma products, hopes its newest product will usher in what it calls "a new era in hip replacement design." Austin, Texas-based Encore rolled out...

Corporate consultants: Are they really just stealth sales reps?
May 1, 1998... These are very good days indeed for the consulting profession. As hospitals, integrated delivery networks and just about every other facilities struggle to make product acquisition and vendor affiliation decisions that lower costs and produce...

Beyond 'compliance' to participation and more.
May 1, 1998... Editor's Note: There are few issues more important to medical device manufacturers today than compliance to national GPO agreements. The ramifications of compliance reach far and wide, to customers/end-users, to distributors and particularly to...

Purchasing compliance is a high dose of bad medicine.
May 1, 1998... Prescribing powerful medications has always been complicated by a common misconception among patients: If a little bit is good, more must be better. Of course, most of us realize that many medications, which are beneficial in appropriate doses,...

Times change, but AORN Congress still key event for many suppliers.(Association of Operating Room Nurses)
May 1, 1998... The necessity of mustering a strong national accounts presence was underscored last month at the annual congress of the Assn. of Operating Room Nurses, a meeting that has arguably become representative of the "old way of doing business." That is...

Contract compliance a double-edged sword for most suppliers
May 1, 1998... By Curt Werner As the saying goes, wish too hard for what you want and you just might get it. For years, medical device manufacturers carped about compliance to contracts signed with national group purchasing organizations. Suppliers grumbled...

Federation event offers vendors best chance for access to decision makers
May 1, 1998... By Curt Werner Among the many difficult challenges in marketing products to today's increasingly rigid group purchasing organizations and hospital chains, access to a narrowing group of key decision makers is one of the more formidable. This...

industry news: Stents again grab spotlight at 1998 American College of Cardiology meeting
May 1, 1998... To the surprise of no one, the latest news about coronary stents were the buzz on the trade show floor at this year's annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta. With more manufacturers finally active in the U.S. market,...

New Health Industry Today feature: World Wide Web addresses
May 1, 1998... Market research shows that more and more readers of Health Industry Today use the Internet on a regular basis. With that in mind, this issue of Health Industry Today will begin a new feature designed to help with information gathering. At the...

McKesson, AmeriSource merger appeal date set back to June 10
May 1, 1998... A federal court has delayed for a month a full hearing on the motion of the Federal Trade Commission for a preliminary injunction to halt the pending merger of drug wholesalers McKesson Corp., San Francisco, with AmeriSource Health Corp.,...

PSS renamed PSS World Medical Inc.
May 1, 1998... In a move designed to "better reflect the company's expansion into multiple distribution sectors, Physician Sales & Service Inc. has changed its name to PSS World Medical Inc.The announcement came as the Jacksonville, Fla.-based medical supply...

Distributor's letter on channel fees seeks to gain vendors' favor
May 1, 1998... Where one company sees an opportunity to raise prices, another company sees an opportunity to capitalize on that competitor's price increase. McKesson General Medical, Richmond, Va., announced late last year plans to assess what it calls a 3%...

Encore's new hip system a Revelation
May 1, 1998... Encore Medical Corp., a small, but growing manufacturer of total hip, knee and shoulder systems and trauma products, hopes its newest product will usher in what it calls "a new era in hip replacement design." Austin, Texas-based Encore rolled out...

Cordis launches TITAN MEGA balloon into interventional cardiology market
May 1, 1998... With FDA clearance in hand, Cordis Corp. is marketing its TITAN MEGA balloon catheter on its own clinical merits as a niche product for treating patients who have unusually large-diameter coronary arteries. Plus, the Miami-based division of...

Corporate consultants: Are they really just stealth sales reps?
May 1, 1998... These are very good days indeed for the consulting profession. As hospitals, integrated delivery networks and just about every other facilities struggle to make product acquisition and vendor affiliation decisions that lower costs and produce...

Mallinckrodt, Molecular Biosystems report early success with new contrast agent
May 1, 1998... St. Louis-based Mallinckrodt Inc., and San Diego-based Molecular Biosystems Inc. say that early in the product cycle they are successfully penetrating the U.S. market with their Optison cardiac ultrasound contrast imaging agent. The companies,...

Beyond 'compliance' to participation and more
May 1, 1998... Editor's Note: There are few issues more important to medical device manufacturers today than compliance to national GPO agreements. The ramifications of compliance reach far and wide, to customers/end-users, to distributors and particularly to...

COMPLIANCE
May 1, 1998... By Ted Almon Prescribing powerful medications has always been complicated by a common misconception among patients: If a little bit is good, more must be better. Of course, most of us realize that many medications, which are beneficial in...

Times change, but AORN Congress still key event for many suppliers
May 1, 1998... By Curt Werner The necessity of mustering a strong national accounts presence was underscored last month at the annual congress of the Assn. of Operating Room Nurses, a meeting that has arguably become representative of the "old way of doing...

Going postal over pre-show mailers
May 1, 1998... Rarely, if ever, do medical device manufacturers crank up the promotional blitz as they do for the annual Assn. of Operating Room Nurses congress. The editor of Health Industry Today was only one name on a list of 6,931 health care professionals...

1998 GPO representation and
May 1, 1998... By Curt Werner As the saying goes, wish too hard for what you want and you just might get it. For years, medical device manufacturers carped about compliance to contracts signed with national group purchasing organizations. Suppliers grumbled...

Worth reading
May 1, 1998... * Hospital Materials Management: The GPO known as Aligned Business Consortium was run until last fall by the hospital chain, Columbia/HCA. The chain launched ABC in hopes of increasing its bargaining power by adding purchasing volume in return...

Around the Industry:
May 1, 1998... Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Ill., will pay about $234 million in cash to acquire Toronto-based International Murex Technologies Corp., a manufacturer of diagnostics products. The two companies had been rivals. A lawsuit charging patent...

Contract notes:
May 1, 1998... Bergen Brunswig Drug Co., Orange, Calif., signed a four-year extension on top of an earlier drug wholesaling agreement with Tenet Healthcare Corp., Santa Barbara, Calif. The sole-source pact extends Bergen's prime vendor status with the chain...

As GPOs gain strength, national accounts mean more than ever
May 1, 1998... At a time when as much as 85% of the purchases of all 5,000 U.S. hospitals are controlled by five GPOs, the importance of a strong, focused national accounts effort has increased dramatically. Just two of those GPOs-Novation and Premier...

Stockless Scorecard
May 1, 1998... Medical-surgical supply distributors signed stockless agreements with six institutions during the first quarter of 1998, raising the overall total of hospitals using stockless service to 459 (one distributor in our survey lost an account during...

Stockless report
May 1, 1998... Listed here are hospitals that signed agreements for stockless distribution programs during 1Q98: Caligor Physician & Hospital Supply, New York Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, three sites Allegiance Corp., McGaw Park, Ill. Beverly...

Show biz
May 1, 1998... Editor's Note: If a trade show or expo you are or were involved with increased (or decreased) the number of participants, exhibitors or floor space, let us know. We're also interested in your reactions to today's trade shows. Contact Curt...

Analysis:
May 1, 1998... For the fifth consecutive month, the unadjusted finished goods component of the Producer Price Index declined, this time a 0.3% drop to 129.7. The March decrease moves this index, which measures pricing at the manufacturer level, 1.8% below its...

PPI's finished goods index slips 0.3% in March; Medical Care Commodities Index rises 0.1%
May 1, 1998... March '98 % change % change Category unadjusted from previous from previous index month year Blood transfusion and I.V. equipment 134.7 + 0.1 + 1.9 Catheters 125.6 + 0.3 + 1.4 Diagnostic apparatus 137.1 3.7 8.5 Disp. surgical...

Purchasing Managers:
May 1, 1998... Manufacturing growth picks up steam in MarchThe pace of growth in the nation's manufacturing sector quickened in March, according to the latest report from the National Assn. of Purchasing Management. At the same time, the overall economy...

Newsmakers
May 1, 1998... Health Industry Today provides Job Mart listings free of charge to HIT subscribers, provided those subscribers assume full responsibility for handling their own letters of inquiry. Please send notices of executive, manufacturer, representative...

Position wanted:
May 1, 1998... Seeking position as corporate accounts director for health care manufacturer; consultant for health care consulting firm; or marketing/sales/contracting director for provider. Advanced degree. Fifteen years sales and marketing experience with...