Health Industry Today articles from September 1995

Health Industry Today archives from September 1995

Automated supply systems attracting growing market. (hospital drug distribution systems)(Industry Overview)
September 1, 1995... In arguably the best example in decades of being in the right place at the right time with the right hospital product, the fast-blossoming, fast-growing business of manufacturing and installing automated supply and pharmaceutical cost management...

AHA '95: image is (almost) everything on the trade show floor. (American Hospital Association)
September 1, 1995... In an extraordinary, wonderful city where the downtown opera house was closed for "seismic renovation," there was no earth-shattering health care news. But the angst that punctuated the past two meetings was also gone. This year's American...

AmHS/Premier combines the haves and the have-mores. (merger of American Healthcare System and Premier Health Alliance Inc.)
September 1, 1995... There have been some expressions of skittishness on the part of smaller-size vendors, while the larger manufacturers appear more secure in the wake of the stunning announcement last month that two dominant, thriving hospital...

Isolyser hopes White Knight purchase will set stage for Degradables sales. (Isolyser Company Inc. acquires White Knight Health Care)
September 1, 1995... In a move designed to help the company tap into the operating room market, provide an outlet for increased production capacity and build its sales volume, Isolyser Co., Inc., Norcross, Ga., acquired White Knight Healthcare, Inc., a producer of...

Mallinckrodt, Medtronic form seven-year alliance. (Mallinckrodt Medical Inc.; Medtronic Inc.)
September 1, 1995... An alliance designed to leverage the strengths of two major manufacturers has been formed by St. Louis-based Mallinckrodt Medical and Minneapolis-based Medtronic, Inc. Under terms of the seven-year agreement, Mallinckrodt Medical will produce 5-,...

Hill-Rom exonerated after 23-month federal probe finds no wrongdoing. (Hill Rom Company Inc.)
September 1, 1995... Hillebrand Industries, Inc., Batesville, Ind., can close the book on a potentially damaging federal investigation by the U.S. Dept. of Justice after a July announcement that the department's Antitrust Division had officially closed its civil...

3M's deal with Cemax-Icon said to bolster PACS consulting group. (Picture Archival Communications Systems)
September 1, 1995... 3M, Minneapolis, acquired an equity position in Cemax-Icon, Inc., Fremont, Calif., and will align distribution and support of image management systems as part of the partnership. Terms were not disclosed. The development is expected to benefit...

HIBCC hopes new database will succeed defunct CCD. (Health Industry Business Communications Council; Universal Product Number System Database; Common Carrier Database)
September 1, 1995... A database has been developed that provides identifiers for non-pharmaceutical products to facilitate electronic transmission of a variety of aspects of the contract administration cycle. The Universal Product Number (UPNSM) System Database and...

CFO survey: know thy buyer. (chief financial officers of hospitals)
September 1, 1995... Vendors who plan to get off the linoleum and sell on the carpet, as the popular expression goes, should be interested in a recent survey of 486 of today's chief financial officers. The 1995 CFO Study was commissioned by the Healthcare Financial...

Advanced Sterilization Products responds to July HIT letter. (Health Industry Today)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 1995... To the Editor, Advanced Sterilization Products (ASP) wishes to correct various statements made by Mr. Thomas K. "Chip" Moore of MDT Biologic Co., Rochester, N.Y., in a letter published in the July 1995 issue of Health Industry Today ("On...

Accucore, Ivy Biomedical in marketing and development pact. (Ivy Biomedical Systems Inc.)
September 1, 1995... Accucore, Inc., Santa Ana, Calif., signed a cooperative marketing and development agreement with Ivy Biomedical Systems, Inc., Branford, Conn., that allows Accucore to create a transmission link between Accucore's cardiac telemetry system and...

Small companies to gain from $27.6 million AmHS investment fund. (American Healthcare System; AmHS Medical Partner Fund)
September 1, 1995... Emerging medical-surgical supply vendors are the beneficiaries of a $27.6 million investment fund capitalized by San Diego-based American Healthcare Systems. The AmHS Medical Partner Fund was created to support emerging and growth-stage companies...

Disposal Sciences Inc. (sells two units of its System 2000 medical waste disposal system to Kaiser Permanente)
September 1, 1995... Disposal Sciences, Inc., a subsidiary of MediVators, Inc., Cannon Falls, Minn., has sold the first two of its System 2000 medical waste disposal units to Kaiser Permanente Foundation of California. The deal could mark a turning point for...

Medical Sterilization, Inc. (signs contract with Shields Healthcare Inc.)
September 1, 1995... Medical Sterilization, Inc. (MSI), Syosset, N.Y., signed a joint venture agreement with Shields Healthcare Inc., which operates six MRI centers in the Boston area, that covers leasing of sterile surgical procedural sets, basins, gowns and towels....

Uarco Inc. (signs another contract with University of Michigan Hospitals)
September 1, 1995... Uarco Inc., Barrington, Ill., picked up a $6 million, three-year renewal of its forms management and automation program with the University of Michigan Hospitals. As part of the contract, the hospital will expand use of Uarco's FIT (forms...

Nellcor Inc. (signs contract with Premier Health Alliance)
September 1, 1995... Nellcor Inc., Pleasanton, Calif., was awarded an exclusive contract by Premier Health Alliance, Westchester, Ill., covering patient safety monitoring equipment. The agreement is under Premier's year-old Materials Management Business Plan. Nellcor...

Amsco International. (signs contract with AmeriNet Inc.)
September 1, 1995... Amsco International, Pittsburgh, signed an agreement with St. Louis-based AmeriNet, Inc., that covers Amsco's complete product line. The three-year agreement, a sole-source arrangement for Amsco's capital equipment, also includes the...

Medtronic phases in marketing of new implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. (Jewel Plus Model 7220)
September 1, 1995... In a response to physicians' needs for advancements in the technology of tachyarrhythmia management, Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, has begun to phase in the U.S. release of three models of its Jewel Plus(TM) Model 7220 implantable...

KCI says wound closure device will save money, promote healing process. (KCI International Inc.; V.A.C. device)
September 1, 1995... KCI International, Inc., San Antonio, Texas, is convinced that the answer to chronic wounds and pressure ulcers lies with its newest product, known as The V.A.C.(TM), for vacuum-assisted closure. The V.A.C., which was cleared by the FDA in July,...

IzzIt On? Sony Medical thinks so. (medical video system)
September 1, 1995... Surgeons' views in the nation's surgical suites could become clearer, safer and more efficient thanks to a new medical-grade video system with a quirky name made by Sony Medical Systems, Park Ridge, N.J. The IzzItOn(TM) System shows operating...

Medical Device Technologies gets FDA nod for glove puncture alarm system.
September 1, 1995... A portable, pager-sized, battery-powered electronic device cleared by the FDA just last month will soon be marketed by independent medical distributors and possibly a major glove manufacturer as a means of minimizing contagion in the operating...

Pacesetter gets FDA clearance to market Trilogy DR pacer.
September 1, 1995... St. Jude Medical, Inc., St. Paul, Minn., and Pacesetter, Inc., its cardiac rhythm management business, received FDA clearance in June to market the Trilogy(TM) DR, the first and primary platform of its Trilogy(TM) line of rate-responsive cardiac...

Trans-telephonic system at heart of CTC's patient monitoring device. (Cardiac Telecom Corp.; HEARTrac I Cardiac Monitoring System)
September 1, 1995... Purchasers in hospitals and subacute care facilities will be the focus of an upcoming marketing effort aimed at promoting the HEARTrac(TM) I Cardiac Monitoring System. Manufactured by Cardiac Telecom Corp. (CTC), a small, Turtle Creek, Pa.-based...

St. Jude wins over Medtronic in appeal over Electromedics suit. (St. Jude Medical Inc.)
September 1, 1995... St. Jude Medical, Inc. gained a favorable ruling from the Minnesota Court of Appeals last month in its appeal of a December 1994 judgment that favored its arch-rival, Minneapolis-based Medtronic, Inc., and that company's acquisition of...

G.E., a customer and an investor, buys $10 million share in Fischer. (GE Medical Systems Group; Fischer Imaging Corp.)
September 1, 1995... A $10 million investment by Milwaukee-based G.E. Medical Systems in Denver-based Fischer Imaging Corp. has made G.E. a 19% shareholder in Fischer and is being counted on to spur the development and sales of Fischer's Tilt-C system and other OEM...

Maxxim Medical Inc. (acquires Becton-Dickinson's surgical gloves business)
September 1, 1995... around the industry: THIS MONTH'S NEWS AND NOTES Maxxim Medical Inc., Sugar Land, Texas, closed the purchase of the worldwide glove business of Becton Dickinson & Co., Franklin Lakes, N.J. in a cash transaction valued at approximately $75...

Davstar Industries Ltd. (completes merger with Dacomed Corp.)
September 1, 1995... Davstar Industries Ltd., Costa Mesa, Calif., and Dacomed Corp., Minneapolis, completed a merger that has created a new company known as Urohealth, a medical products concern that specializes in the incontinence and impotence markets. Urohealth...

Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. (signs manufacturing contract with Storz Ophthalmics)
September 1, 1995... Lifecore Biomedical, Inc., Chaska, Minn., will develop a manufacturing process for an as-yet unnamed device for the treatment of nearsightedness to be supplied to Storz Ophthalmics, Inc., a Clearwater, Fla.-based subsidiary of American Home...

Invacare Corp. (corporate acquisitions)
September 1, 1995... Invacare Corp., Elyria, Ohio, acquired Thompson Rehab, Auckland, New Zealand, that country's leading manufacturer and distributor of manual and power wheelchairs. The acquisition of Thompson Rehab, which has annual sales of approximately $4...

Allied Healthcare Products Inc. (acquires the emergency medical products business of Design Principles Inc.)
September 1, 1995... Allied Healthcare Products Inc., St. Louis, acquired the emergency medical products line of Design Principles Inc., Huntsville, Ala., for $600,000 in cash. Design Principles, which anticipates 1995 net sales of approximately $600,000, is a...

Columbia Vital Systems Inc. (acquires Solutions Plus America Inc.)
September 1, 1995... Columbia Vital Systems Inc. (CVS), Westmont, Ill., a specialty distributor in the cardiovascular and anesthesia products segment, acquired Solutions Plus America, Inc., Bloomington, Ind., a five-year-old repackager and relabeler of anesthesia...

Med-Design Corp. (signs lease for new plant in Ventura County, CA)
September 1, 1995... Med-Design Corp., Philadelphia, leased a 26,000sf, state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Ventura County, Calif., that will produce safety medical devices for the company's MDC Research, Ltd., subsidiary. The pilot facility will house MDC's...

Isolyser Co., Inc. (approvals for discharging wastewater into municipal sewer systems)
September 1, 1995... Isolyser Co., Inc., Norcross, Ga., picked up approvals in two waste treatment districts to discharge wastewater from ORex(R) Degradables processors into two cities' municipal sewer systems. The approvals are in the Hampton Roads sanitation...

Agfa-Gevaert Group, Antwerp, Belgium. (signs licensing agreement with Fuji Medical Systems USA Inc.)
September 1, 1995... Agfa-Gevaert Group, Antwerp, Belgium, and Fuji Medical Systems, Stamford, Conn., signed a licensing agreement under which Agfa will sell its Agfa Diagnostic Center (ADC) system worldwide. The ADC system is Agfa's computed radiography (CR) system...

Partners Healthcare Group.
September 1, 1995... Partners Healthcare Group, LLC, Brentwood, Tenn., has a shingle in front of the office for the first time (615-370-5014). The company, whose principals number former staffers with Gene Burton & Associates, offers asset management,...

Nellcor Inc. (wins patent infringement suit against Ohmeda Inc.)
September 1, 1995... Nellcor Inc., Pleasanton, Calif., won a decision by a U.S. District Court in Delaware that said four key oximeter and sensor technology patents are valid. The ruling means that the patents would be infringed by Ohmeda Inc., Murray Hill, N.J., a...

Moore Corp. Ltd. (signs marketing agreement with Sunquest Information Systems Inc.)
September 1, 1995... Moore Corp. Ltd., Lake Forest, Ill., and its Moore Pressure Sensitive Systems, signed a three-year joint marketing agreement with Sunquest Information Systems, Inc., Tucson, Ariz. The agreement makes Moore the sole recommended vendor of pressure...

Metra Biosystems, Inc. (signs marketing agreement with Bayer Corp.)
September 1, 1995... Metra Biosystems, Inc., Mountain View, Calif., and Bayer Corp.'s Diagnostic Division, Tarrytown, N.Y., formed a collaborative agreement designed to market Metra's biochemical bone markers internationally, excluding Japan. The agreement will allow...

Elscint, Ltd. (collaborative research with Elbit Computers Ltd.)
September 1, 1995... Elscint, Ltd., Haifa, Israel, will combine on a four-year joint research and development project with Elbit Ltd., also of Haifa, that is valued at approximately $13 million. Of that, about $5 million is expected to be funded by the U.S.-Israel...

Serviscope Corp. (acquires Certified X-Ray)
September 1, 1995... Serviscope Corp., Wallingford, Conn., acquired Certified X-ray, an independent service organization based in northern Virginia. The deal gives Serviscope Certified X-ray's customer base, service contracts and technical expertise in the Maryland,...

Medline Industries, Inc. (joint venture program with McDonald's Corp.)
September 1, 1995... Medline Industries, Inc., Mundelein, Ill., joined forces with McDonald's Corp. to offer the Healing Through Happiness program, an effort to provide a special pediatrics program designed to make a child's hospital stay more enjoyable. Children...

i-STAT Corp. (forms joint venture with Hewlett-Packard Medical Products Group)
September 1, 1995... i-STAT Corp., Princeton, N.J., and the Hewlett-Packard Co. Medical Products Group, Andover, Mass., formed a strategic alliance that includes both a technological and a marketing collaboration between the two companies. The deal calls for...

Hafslund Nycomed's. (pretax profits for second-quarter of 1995)
September 1, 1995... Hafslund Nycomed's 1994 acquisition of Sterling Winthrop, Inc.'s U.S.-based diagnostic imaging business is paying big dividends. Pretax profits for the Norwegian pharmaceutical company soared 85% in the second quarter to $105.5 million, Hafslund...

Bird Medical Technologies. (sold to Thermo Electron Corp.)
September 1, 1995... Bird Medical Technologies, Palm Springs, Calif., agreed to be acquired by Thermo Electron Corp., Waltham, Mass., in a deal that stunned another potential suitor, Allied Healthcare Products, Inc., St. Louis. Bird Medical, which manufactures...

Value Health Inc. (to sell Lewin-VHI subsidiary)
September 1, 1995... Value Health, Inc., Avon, Conn., will sell its Washington, D.C.-based Lewin-VHI subsidiary because of "alleged conflict of interest problems with Value Health's core business." A Value Health executive said that on two occasions, Value Health's...

Team learning helps spur new product line sales. (MDT Corp.)
September 1, 1995... For one company, the addition of a new product line provided not only a potential to increase sales, but an opportunity to enhance the consultative skills and overall proficiency of its sales team. MDT Corp., Torrance, Calif., manufactures...

General Medical acquires K.C. distributor Goetze-Niemer.
September 1, 1995... Richmond, Va.-based General Medical Corp. has made Kansas City, Mo.-based Goetze-Niemer Co. the newest member of its fast-growing family. The acquisition, the latest in a seemingly endless wave of consolidation among medical-surgical supply...

Owens' major Boston hospital deal also includes six manufacturers. (inventory management contract between Owens and Minor Inc. and Partners HealthCare System Inc.)
September 1, 1995... A sophisticated inventory management system that could reduce costs by over $20 million is part of a materials management partnership agreement signed by Boston-based Partners HealthCare System, Inc. and Owens & Minor, Inc., Richmond, Va....

Choice Medical, B-D pegged as demo sites for new HIDA project. (Choice Medical Distribution Inc.; Becton-Dickinson Supply Chain Services; Health Industry Distributors Association)
September 1, 1995... Choice Medical Distribution, Inc., a master distributor based in Monsey, N.Y., along with Becton Dickinson Supply Chain Services, Franklin Lakes, N.J., were chosen as demonstration sites for the ambitious Health Industry Number (HIN(TM)) system...

Porcine patients prop plucky Megatech's profit picture. (MegaTech Medical Inc. uses pigs in demonstrating products sold by sales personnel)
September 1, 1995... MegaTech Medical Inc. dispatched an 18-member contingent of sales people and vendor-partners to a rural Maryland farm in hopes of reducing the time it takes for the independent medical distributor to bring new products to market. Marvin Marks,...

Bergen quickly closes Colonial deal. (Bergen Brunswig Corp. acquires Colonial Healthcare Supply Co.)
September 1, 1995... Just weeks after the announcement of its acquisition of Colonial Healthcare Supply Co., Bergen Brunswig Corp., Orange, Calif., announced it had completed the purchase of the Lake Zurich, Ill.-based medical supply distributor. The deal ("Colonial...

Purchasing managers: manufacturing sector u-turns in July.(Industry Overview)
September 1, 1995... After experiencing a downward trend in May and June, there are signs of a turnaround in the nation's manufacturing sector. Production and New Orders increased in July and Order Backlogs, Inventories and Employment decreased at a slower rate than...

Stryker Corp. (executive appointment)
September 1, 1995... Stryker Corp.: Brian Hutchinson was promoted to president of Stryker Medical, the company's Kalamazoo, Mich.-based subsidiary. A six-year Stryker employee, Hutchinson has served as Stryker's vice president of finance for Osteonics Corp.,...

Acoustic Imaging Technologies Corp. (executive appointment)
September 1, 1995... Acoustic Imaging Technologies Corp.: John T. Kingsley, president and CEO of this Phoenix-based ultrasound manufacturer, died Aug. 23 after a brief illness. Richard Monaco was named acting interim president for the company in his stead.

River Medical Inc. (executive appointment)
September 1, 1995... River Medical, Inc.: James C. Lierman was named president and CEO for this San Diego-based I.V. drug therapy technology company. Before joining River Medical, Lierman served as director for commercial development for the Hospital Products...

BSD Medical Corp. (executive resignation)
September 1, 1995... BSD Medical Corp.: Steven J. Carwell resigned as president and CEO of this Salt Lake City-based medical device producer. He will, however, stay on as an adviser in sales and marketing. Late last year, 68% of the company was sold to a group of...